Holy shit! Thanks guys for the awesome feedback on the first chapter! All you guys that Reviewed, Faved or Followed, are freakin awesome. Thank you, I really, really appreciate it.
SM owns Twilight, I'm messing around with her characters. Once again, foul language, adult subject matter, all that fun stuff. Go away kiddies, you're not supposed to be here ;)
Some more club songs for you:
Ying Yang - USS
Don't - Ed Sheeran
. . . . . . . . . .
It was nice being back in New York. I spent most of Saturday in a hangover coma, but after that things went smoothly.
Maybe smoothly wasn't the right word.
I felt lighter almost, just being out of L.A. I had missed this city, and it made me feel like shit when I realized how much I had missed my family. And I'd missed so much over the last five years. Fuck, I hadn't even been home last Christmas. Mom just seemed so damn happy to have me here though, eating meals with them and staying in their house until Wednesday, and they all just acted like I'd never left and been a complete douche for the past few years.
Mom had been a complete saint to me on Saturday. I stayed in bed the majority of the day feeling like microwaved shit, and she'd brought me Advil and Gatorade, because she was fucking cool with shit like that. The night before was pretty blurry, but I remember that I got shitfaced enough to lose count, though I'd stuck to Scotch the entire day. I remember the shit with Alice and that fucktard James.
And I remembered the Insanely-Fucking-Beautiful, Apparently-Not-A-Lesbian ninja at Rose's club.
And I remember making a complete idiot out of myself. I wasn't just off my game, I had left my game in a completely different state on the other side of the country. Totally regretting taking those Xanax during the flight and drinking about an entire bottle's worth of Scotch on the same day I meet the most beautiful fucking woman in the god damn world. Fuck my life.
Sunday I only left the house to check out Alice's shop when she offered, before she came over for dinner again. I enjoyed it even more than the previous dinner, and was kind of glad that I avoided the bar for the entire day.
It was the first entire day I had spent sober in about a month I think, and when I came to that realization, I decided this was the perfect time to maybe change some things. A fresh start. I could do whatever the fuck I wanted really. I was loaded, I had no current contracts. The only person I had left under hire was Tyler, and I'm pretty sure I'd made it clear to just leave me alone for a while. Really it was win-win for both of us. He was paid for the rest of the year already, I didn't want him to accept any more for me onto his workload, so all he really had to do was tell people who wanted me that I was out of commission right now. I may not have phased it that elegantly, but he's worked for me for years and knew what I'd meant. There was nothing tying me to anything right now, the tour for the movie release wasn't until January. My last house was sold and taken care of, my new loft and movers paid for.
I had no fucking clue what I wanted, I just knew that I didn't want the life I'd been living.
Monday and Tuesday I was still at the house, but went out in the afternoons. I thought it would be cool catching up with a few old buddies that according to Alice still apparently lived in the area, but it was totally awkward. Not comfortable in the slightest. It always felt more like an interview than catching up with old friends or hanging out. I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd recorded it or some shit with the ridiculous amount of questions they asked me. And no matter how hard I tried to turn the conversation away from myself, it kept coming back with things like "Have you ever hung out with so-and-so Actor?" or "What was the set like for 'insert name of movie here'?" It was exhausting, and kind of irritating. I didn't make any promises about seeing any of them again.
Wednesday I went to my new apartment, and my mom tagged along, conveniently saving me from having to use another taxi. I still had no intention of buying a car. We got there about an hour before the movers. They had their own keys, but I wanted to make sure they didn't fuck with any of my instruments. Mom wanted to organize and direct them and shit, so I let her. After they brought up my piano, guitars and amps, I got to unpacking them myself while they continued with everything else. I was pretty sure no matter where I was, as long as I was somewhere inside of my apartment that I would be in my mom's way. So I stayed in one spot, set up my stuff in the corner that she said I could have them in, then cleaned my piano and tuned my guitars. We had a late lunch delivered when the movers left, and after that so did my mother. I listened to music as I started organizing my books and CDs on the shelves of the huge entertainment center. The movers had set up my new TV and sound system for me, which saved me a lot of hassle. They got a pretty awesome tip.
Thursday and Friday was just spent unpacking and organizing shit. I had to go out for a few things obviously. I managed to get a new number and phone, still having no idea who sold out my last number to the press. Fucking assholes. But I got swarmed trying to get out of the mall. And then again at the grocery store. I hadn't thought it through very well. I was just so damn relaxed, and completely forgot to bring sunglasses or a fucking hat or something. It was a stupid mistake, but Tyler usually took care of shit like that for me. People were still buzzing about the break-up, and I could not wait until something more interesting popped up and all these people who I didn't even fucking know stopped asking me questions that were not their fucking business.
So by the time Friday had come to an end, I was completely settled in, and slightly worried about walking out of the building. There were crowds outside the main entrance.
Seriously, did these people really have nothing better to do?
So I caved, and called Tyler, who set me up with a PA.
I felt kind of ridiculous when Riley came over that night. I explained what I needed from him; a driver so I didn't have to deal with taxis, someone to do my shopping, set me up with a house cleaner, etc… He seemed nice enough, quiet but serious. I was fine with that, because really, I didn't want to talk to anyone. It was taking enough energy as it was to keep smiling around my parents and sister.
I should not have gotten bored this quickly. There was tons of shit I could be doing. I played music, read, just tried to relax, but that heavy feeling, that emptiness, just started setting back in.
Okay, yeah, I was fucking lonely. Sue me.
It had only been a week, but it felt like I'd been here for years. I needed more hobbies, or a friend that wasn't my sister. Sitting in front of my piano and playing videos games all the time was getting kind of sad.
It was Saturday. Rose said that she worked on the busy days, and Saturday would probably be considered a busy day for a club...
I shook my head, trying to dislodge the unhealthy thought. Why did she keep sneaking into my mind? Yeah, she was hot, but I've been with lots of hot girls. None compared to her of course, but none had ever messed with my head like this before either. Not even close, which was fucked up because I barely even talked to her. It was like every time I stopped moving, my mind just flipped back to the image of her.
Fierce. Strong. Confident.
Those eyes. The colour of her skin. The curves of her hips. Those full, red lips.
That ass.
Fuck.
I went over to the fridge and almost grabbed a beer, but stopped myself. It wasn't even noon, and drinking alone before noon just out of boredom was kind of depressing. I felt restless.
I tapped my foot as I looked around the apartment, huffing in annoyance. I had energy, and I needed to burn it. My last trainer would be kicking my ass if he knew how long I'd been away from the gym. Just because I had no desire to work any time soon, didn't mean I wanted to let my figure go. I liked working out, and I loved running. I missed it.
Didn't Rose say her boyfriend owned a gym? I wondered if it was any good. I pulled up her number, and gave her a call. She picked up on the third ring.
"Hey cuz, what's up?"
"Hey Rose, I was looking for a new gym, and remembered you saying that, uhm…" Fuck, what was his name?
"You wanted to know if Emmett's gym is any good?" She asked. I could hear her sarcastic smile.
"Yeah."
"It's the biggest gym in New York, and it's the best. I'll text you the address."
"Thanks Rose."
She hung up. Rosalie had never been big on the whole talking on the phone thing, so I didn't take it personally. My phone buzzed two minutes later, and I texted Riley who arranged for my transportation.
It was an awesome gym, even bigger than my last one in LA. I didn't even ask for a tour before I bought a full membership. After filling out the necessary forms, I was just about to give myself a tour when I was approached by a bear of a man, easily over six feet with thick black hair and dark blue eyes. He was intimidatingly large, bigger than a quarter back, and I prayed to god that I hadn't slept with his wife or girlfriend as he looked down at me.
"Rose said you'd be coming by. Hey, I'm Emmett." He held out his hand, and I sighed in relief before shaking it. He had a very firm grip.
"Your place is awesome," I said lamely. He gave me a big, dimpled grin, and looked down at my new membership badge.
"Thanks. I would say that you shouldn't have paid, but I'm sure you can afford it." He clapped me on the back, hard enough to make my teeth rattle in my head while his booming laugh filled the building. "Come on man, let me give you a tour," he said easily, walking away before waiting for my response. I was a little stunned for a moment, but followed after him quickly.
He showed me around the massive complex, telling me about a lot of the specialized classes and training programs. He was surprisingly easy, and enjoyable to talk to. I felt myself relaxing and laughing with him as we talked about interesting patrons, sports, TV, and my sister and cousin.
I liked him, he was pretty cool.
"Well I'll let you get back to your shit if you want, but I'm going for a run if you want to tag along."
"Sure." It was what I came to do anyways, and I'd always wanted a running buddy.
He led me down to the main floor's cardio room, and I watched as he strapped down a bunch of weights to his belt, arms, and ankles. How much extra weight was that?
My ego didn't really want to know.
I started up my machine while he finished tying down what looked like the equivalent of another person to himself, but his hand froze from starting the machine when his phone rang. The melody surprised me, it was very soft, and definitely sounded like a violin. He grinned and answered quickly.
"Hey baby sis! What's up?" Pause. "Yeah sure, not a problem. I'm going to stop by the club to see Rose for a bit later tonight, I'll take him out before I head over." Pause. "Shut up, you know I don't mind. Though if you're free Thursday I would be eternally grateful if you could cover the AM spin class." He barked out a laugh. "No, the Hell class, you know I wouldn't ask otherwise." He laughed again. "Thanks, I'll see you tonight. Love yah." He hung up, dropped the phone in the cup holder, and started up his treadmill. He was matching my speed in two minutes.
What the fuck was this guy on?
"Hell class?"
"We've got a bunch of different levels for our spin classes. Some are easy, but there are a lot of people willing to pay you to yell at them and push them until they cry," he said with a grin.
"And you're having your little sister teach it? She works with you?"
"Nah, she doesn't really work here, but she helps me out every once in a while. She doesn't have the patience to deal with the slower classes though, something along the lines of "not willing to waste time coddling pansies" or whatever. She works at a Library," he said proudly.
I laughed loudly at his sister's words, and tried to picture a female version of Emmett. I shuddered.
"So Rose said you guys went to check out the club last weekend. How's your sister doing?"
"She's good. It was quite the show. Her head of security, some chick they called B or whatever, completely creamed this dude that was twice her size like it was nothing. It was like something out of an action movie."
"Well, you'd know all about that now wouldn't you!" He said, his loud laugh bouncing off the walls. How was he running while laughing like that? I could barely breathe while talking. I hated talking while running, but didn't really want to tell him that. "I'm heading to the club tonight, you got any plans?"
"No," I said, a little too quickly.
"Good, you're coming with me then. I love your cousin, but its brutal getting caught up in there without male reinforcement sometimes."
"Sounds good."
We ran for another forty minutes, and I was pretty much fucking awed by the tank next to me. While I kept a steady, quick pace, he did sprints and elevations with walks in between. And he talked so easily while he ran. He slowed down his speed for a short cool down before turning it off and peeling off his weights. "I got to head home first then go walk my buddy's dog. There's this killer sandwich place next door to the club, how about I meet you there for a snack at ten?"
"Yeah, okay." I gave him my number, and he gave me a wave before walking away.
I grinned to myself like an idiot, feeling kind of hopeful that I may have found a decent guy to hang out with.
And I'd get to see her again.
The afternoon went by quickly. I hit the weights for a bit, sweated out in the sauna for a while, and had a quick shower before going home and having a real one. I was standing in front of my closet in a towel, looking at my selection in exasperation. As Alice had ordered, I had let go of my personal shopper, and her comment about her style kept ringing through my head.
I had to look good.
With an eeriness that only Alice could conjure, she rang my doorbell and let herself in, dragging along a rack of clothes behind her. I hugged her quickly, thankful once again for my amazing yet weird baby sister.
"Okay eww, you're wearing a towel. Seriously Edward." I laughed, and let her go.
"I met Rose's boyfriend today. I'm meeting up with him later, and said I'd stop by the club with him. What should I wear?"
She eyed me curiously and pursed her lips, but didn't say whatever it was that she'd been considering. "Wear the charcoal one, black shirt, no tie." I nodded in thanks, and took the items over to my bathroom to get changed. The suit fit perfectly of course, my sister was an artist. When I came back out she was tossing things out of my closet.
The purge. It happened any time she got close to my closet. I knew it would be futile to argue, so I just grabbed a trash bag and started stuffing shit in.
"Alice, just don't-"
"Don't worry Edward, I won't touch your precious t-shirts," she said with an audible eye roll. "Would it be okay if I tagged along?" She asked, sticking her head out of the closet to look at me.
"Yeah, of course. Have you heard anything about James yet?"
"Oh, yeah, the order was officiated on Monday morning. He's not allowed within three hundred feet of me any time."
"Wow. That was… fast."
"I know right? I was worried that it wouldn't go through and he'd just get angrier, but it happened just like she said it would. She must have pulled some strings for me though, for it to happen that quickly. I want to thank her again. Maybe she'll let me make her a dress! Oh, she would look so pretty in a dress."
I couldn't say anything, the image of that perfect ass in a short skirt had me walking out of the room to compose myself.
She wasn't just a hot body though, she was… intriguing. She was a little hostile, but I found it kind of hot. And even with her bitchiness, there was a bit of a sweet side in her when she'd helped Alice.
Yeah, she had helped my baby sister. Damn it.
I sighed, pulling my hands through my hair in frustration. I couldn't just fuck someone who meant something to my little sister and Rose.
But if I was being honest with myself, I didn't want to just bend her over a table. I wanted to run my hands slowly over those curvy hips, feel the softness of her pale skin, touch her shiny hair, breath in her intoxicating scent and taste her lips...
Fuck.
We got to the sandwich place right on time, and Emmett was leaning against the outside wall waiting for us. Alice skipped up and he gave her a tight hug, lifting her up off the ground and setting her back down.
"It's been a while pixie. I heard you got into some drama last weekend, you good?"
"I'm great. I feel like I have this weight off of my shoulders now, you know? Knowing that if he ever gets close to me again I can have him sent to jail. I guess it's good that it happened, I haven't been looking over my shoulder everywhere I go anymore."
He patted her on the shoulder awkwardly, and we sat outside in the cool evening breeze while scarfing down a few sandwiches before heading next door. It was surprisingly nice; even though people were still taking pictures, no one approached us. I was a little thankful for Emmett's intimidating stature next to me. I hated hiring someone to shadow me, but unfortunately people can be fucking crazy, and a buffer was necessary sometimes.
Best sandwich of my life, I was coming back here soon.
I felt like it was Christmas Eve, almost vibrating with excitement as we made our way through the club up to the third floor. I didn't even have a second to look for her, she pushed right past us as we were walking into the VIP room, pulling a drunk, crying girl by the elbow and looking completely disgusted.
"Hey, is everything-"
"I'll be right back," she hissed, cutting Emmett off. He laughed loudly, and we watched as she had to practically drag the sobbing girl out.
I watched her until she went out of view, and turned to find Emmett watching me with a suspicious look. He huffed, before shaking his head, smiling and walking over to Rose.
What was that about? I looked over to my sister, who just shrugged, and made her way over to the group.
I followed, but made the mistake of sitting next to Rose's friend like last time. I wasn't drunk, which made it harder to ignore her throwing herself at me. She asked me to sign her panties for fuck sakes.
I had spent time thinking about it this afternoon, and decided that if I couldn't just… have my way with her because of my family, maybe I'd take her out to dinner or something first.
Women loved shit like fancy diners.
I was drawn into the conversation for a while, but when I saw her half an hour later, standing in the strategic corner that allowed her to see every inch of the room, I got up and took my chance.
Alice beat me to her.
She ran up to her, throwing her arms around her and hugging her. The look on her face, wide, confused eyes, was priceless. She was looking at Alice like she just popped out a litter of puppies, and awkwardly pattered her back after a moment with a slight grimace on her face. I couldn't help but laugh, it was hilarious. Like she was able to hear my laugh over the pulsing music, she looked up at me. Her face composed back into her professional, neutral mask after half a second, and she went back to scanning the room while trying to pay attention to Alice while she talked. I walked up to them so I could hear.
"Seriously, don't worry about it."
"But you must have done something for it to happen that fast, I'm really-"
"I mean it. That was just my job. One of the perks actually. Just forget about it."
"I can't forget about it. You changed my life, I've been running from that man since high school, and now he can't even look at me anymore, you-" she paused when the woman shot across the room like a bullet, and we followed her with our eyes as she ran over to two men that were being restrained by their friends from swinging at each other. She jumped and slid across a table that was in her way without breaking her rhythm, jumping in between the two men. When she pushed them apart roughly, one of them took one look at her and raised his hands, backing off quickly with unbridled fear plain in his face.
Hmm. Maybe he knew her, or had seen her in action before anyways.
My vision went red when the other man didn't back down, and actually took a swing at her face. She swerved and caught his arm easily though, and the room burst into drunken cheers as she used said arm to actually flip him over her shoulder, throwing him onto his back before dropping down and punching him in the face. The music cut off when his head rolled back. She turned and glared at the DJ.
"Mitch, are you purposely trying to cause a fucking scene? Put the music back on!" She growled. She was met by laughter, but didn't seem to even pay attention to it as she mumbled against her watch thingy, and started dragging the unconscious man away before being joined by another man who picked him up.
Fuck, this club was entertaining. I felt like I was watching a TV show. I went over to the washroom and groaned when I looked at my hair while washing my hands. It looked ridiculous, sticking up in all different directions. I attempted to fix it with a bit of water, even knowing it was useless. With a huff, I went back outside, and grinned when I saw her back at her post.
Now or never.
I walked up to her confidently, giving her my best smile with my hands in my pockets.
I'm Edward Fucking Cullen. I can ask a chick out to dinner, stop being such a little bitch.
"What's up pretty boy?" She said, shocking me by speaking first. I hadn't thought she'd seen me yet.
It's her job to see everything, dipshit.
Shut up.
Did she say she thinks you're pretty?
Shut up!
"That was another pretty bad-ass move there," I purred, amping up my smile. She didn't even look over.
"Hmm."
Hmm? What the hell did that mean?
"Will you get in any trouble for knocking him out?"
She looked over at me then, and I lost my train of thought when I got pulled into those big brown eyes. "Are you playing a cop in your next movie or something?"
"What?"
"What's with the interrogation Chief Wiggum? I'm trying to work here."
"Oh, uhm-" Fuck, what was I saying before? Damnit. "My name's Edward."
Fucking smooth.
She scoffed, and rolled her eyes. "I am aware of what your name is, Mr. Hollywood."
"Are you going to tell me your name?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because you don't need to know it."
I clenched my fists, and I swear I saw her smirk.
Was she fucking teasing me, or being serious? I couldn't tell. I could tell that I was fucking losing here though. I took a deep breath to steady myself, and leaned in towards her. She finally did look back to me then. She watched me suspiciously, but didn't back away.
She smelt so damn good, I just wanted to lick her neck.
Twitch.
"Let me take you out to dinner," I purred in my most seductive voice.
"No thanks."
What?
"What?"
"I said, no thanks."
I stood up straighter, looking down at her in confusion. I opened my mouth a few times to say something, but nothing came out. She was back to scanning the room again silently.
"There you are!" Alice sang. I thought she was talking to me, but she skipped right up to the hot fucking weirdo beside me. I thought I almost saw a flash of fear in her eyes as she looked down at my sister, but I must have imagined it. "I was looking all over for you! Are you okay? Is your hand okay? How did you flip that guy like that? He was huge!"
She was trying to fight it, but there was a smile playing on the corner of her mouth as she listened to my sister excitedly speed through her words. "It's all in the hips."
"What?"
"The flip thing. You take the weight in the hip, and use his own momentum, so it doesn't really use much energy."
"What do you mean?" She asked, engrossed now. God, she was going to try to flip me sometime, I just knew it.
She scanned the room again, then looked back to my sister. "May I touch you? I swear I won't hurt you."
"Sure!" she said easily.
The angel smiled.
A real smile, not a sarcastic smirk or malicious grin. My heart stopped at the sight of it.
"Okay, well it doesn't look like it when you see it that fast, but it's all in the hips so it takes very little energy. You saw how I took his arm?" Alice nodded, and held out her arm excitedly, causing the angel to smile again. "So after gripping the arm and turning slightly, you use the angle to almost roll him onto your back like this." She slowly lifted up my sister on her back, her hand holding her weight off the arm by supporting her waist. "Once he's there, you're using his own momentum to roll him over. When you do it fast, it's much more fluid." She rolled her slightly, making my sister laugh, then settled her back down on the floor gently and straightened out her own shirt before scanning the room again.
"That is sooo cool, you should teach self-defence classes or something."
"I do, actually." She flinched at her own words, and I had the sneaking suspicion that she hadn't meant to say them.
"Seriously! Can I take one?"
She turned to her in surprise. "Take what?"
"One of your classes, silly."
"Oh, uhm, yeah. Sure," she stuttered. She looked off to the side. "I'm not sure when the next ones are coming up. I do them at Emmett's gym, I only start them if there's enough to form a class. Just ask him." Hmm, well that explained how Emmett knew her.
"Cool! So you know Emmett? He's dating my cousin Rosalie, but of course you already know that, since you work for her. How did you meet them? Does she force you to wear those clothes for work? I'll have to have a talk with her about that. It's cute, don't get me wrong, but we could find you something much cuter. Oh, I'm working on this outfit at work right now…"
And there she goes. It was like she'd been her best friend since childhood, speeding excitedly through her words, talking more at her than with her. I laughed at the look on her face, eyes wide and staring at my sister like she was a little green alien.
She was more than confident taking down a guy twice her size, but watching her looking at my sister… she looked almost nervous.
"So I think we should hang out, I can tell that we are going to be excellent friends. What are you doing on Monday? The club's closed during the day right? We could go out for lunch!"
"Oh, I work somewhere else during the week. I don't get off until three on Monday," she said, watching my sister suspiciously.
"That's fine, dinner then!" Hah, good luck with that. "I know this amazing restaurant we could go to, it's just-"
"I don't really do restaurants," she interrupted. What was that supposed to mean?
"That's okay, just come over to my place and we'll have take-out."
She pinched the bridge of her nose while clenching her eyes for a moment, then let out a sigh.
"Yeah, okay. Sure."
What? Seriously?
She'll go out with my lunatic of a sister, but she doesn't want to have dinner with me? Seriously?
… Would she have said yes I've I'd offered to take her out somewhere besides for dinner? Is that why she said no?
Fuck!
Alice squealed happily, and I saw the brunette tense as my sister hugged her again. Could Alice really not see that she was obviously not the hugging type? "Excellent! Here's my card, it's got my number and address on it, let's plan for six-thirty? Monday night?"
She nodded in defeat, and I was tempted to laugh.
"I'm so excited! What's your name, by the way?"
She looked back down at my sister for a moment, and there was something strange, almost painful in her eyes when she looked away again. "You can call me B."
"Is that short for something?" I blurted out. They both looked at me, Alice just seeming to realize I was standing beside her.
"No, my parents were aiming to have twenty-six kids, and I was the second. They thought it would be easier."
I stared at her, and she watched me evenly for a full minute, looking completely serious. "Seriously?" I asked in disbelief.
"No," she deadpanned, looked back down at Alice. "I'll call you during my lunch break on Monday, but I really do need to get back to work."
"Oh yes, of course, sorry! That sounds great though! I'll talk to you then!" She said happily, spinning around to leave.
"Hey Alice?"
"Yeah?"
"Take your brother with you. I think he's having some sort of mental episode, you should keep an eye on him."
My mouth popped open as I gaped at her, ignoring my sister laughing beside me who was clutching at her stomach. She met my eyes again for a fraction of a second, and winked at me.
Did she really just fucking wink at me? What the hell did that mean?
I didn't get the chance to ask, as she stormed off to pull apart two girls that were rolling around on the floor, pulling at each other's hair. I sighed, and sat back down with the others.
I really did try to pay attention to the conversation for the rest of the night, but it was near impossible when she was in the room. My eyes were drawn to her continuously.
What was really weird, was when Emmett went up to talk to her about twenty minutes later. His back was to me as he leaned in to talk to her, and I felt my jaw clench. Why was he so close to her? She didn't seem to mind him. He was dating my cousin for fuck sakes, and she was right HERE.
I saw her grin, biting her bottom lip as she shook her head no to something he said.
God, I wanted to bite that lip too.
Twitch.
She laughed at something he said, pushing him away playfully. He reached out to grab her, but she ducked out of his grasp easily, and jabbed him in the side. He caught her hand, and used his other hand to mess up her hair, and she scowled at him and sent him a swift kick in the shin that he couldn't dodge in time. Her hand went to her ear, and she said something to him, earning a nod from him before disappearing.
She didn't come back before we left.
. . . . . . . . . .
Hhhmmmmm. Two strikes Edward. Some reviews might help him get his game back, and he could use it, because I doubt he's ready to give up yet ;)
BTW, I Am Canadian, and write as such. I like my extra U's, thank you very much, and refuse to crumble under the peer pressure of those damn red squiggly lines.