You guys, yes, every single one of you people are friggen awesome. Thanks for reviewing, following and faving, or just clicking that next button and reading along. You make me feel all sorts of awesome!

No club songs this week, because they aren't important. Bond with our BxE's common ground and listen to some Zeppelin. I recommend No Quarter and Kashmir today ;)

Are there children lurking? Seriously, cut it out.

. . . . . . . . . .

It had kind of become a routine, spending Friday nights at the club. I didn't even mind being the fifth wheel, because honestly, my mind stayed in the corner with B most of the time anyways. This was the only time I really got to see her, except for the rare sightings at the gym.

I respected her warning though, and never tried to approach her in the gym again.

I was practically bouncing with excitement when she walked over to our table, and leaned over to whisper something to Emmett who smiled brightly and nodded at her.

"Hey Rose, I've got a meeting to go over some contracts for a new film on Wednesday. My agent wants me to bring down some security though, can you spare anyone for two days?"

I held my breath while my pulse pounded loudly in my ears.

"You should take B, she's knows L.A. Hey B, could you get the time off work?"

She stared at her blankly, not saying anything.

. . .

"The pay is pretty great, and all costs will be covered," I threw in, trying to keep my voice casual. I ignored Emmett's dark glares. I get that he was friends with her, but he was being fucking weird.

"You really don't want me to work for you, Hollywood."

"Oh, I'd beg to differ. You're the best there is," I told her truthfully. She smirked.

"I have my own ways of doing things, and that's not going to change. I'm also not going to kiss your ass just because you're paying me."

"Good, I don't want you too," I purred. The entire table was frozen in silence, you could cut through the tension in the air with a knife. B watched me suspiciously for a long minute. My mouth popped open when she spoke.

"Fine. We can go over the details when I'm done work." She turned around and walked away without another word. I spent the rest of the evening smiling, and ignoring Emmett's scowls. The adrenaline kept me up easily until the club closed at three, and I sprang to my feet when B waved me over with a hand.

I followed her through the door behind the bar, down a long white hallway, and through a heavy door. It was a pretty big office, a large stainless steel desk with three laptops and four phones plugged in. A large, black leather sofa, a small bar fridge, a shelf with a fax, scanner, photo copiers, and a wall covered in tall, black filing cabinets.

The only personal items in the room were her leather jacket and helmet that were sitting on the arm of the sofa. There were no pictures, no knickknacks, no fancy pens.

It was very… cold.

She sat down in the chair behind her desk, and gestured for me to take one of the two on the other side, facing her. I complied quickly.

Don't fucking screw this up.

"Flight times?"

"Tuesday at two, and the flight back is Thursday at three. I already have a second ticket."

"Your meeting times?"

"Wednesday at noon, and possibly another Thursday morning."

"Where will these meetings be taking place?"

"Wednesday they'll take us out to lunch at Elemental, Thursday would just be breakfast at the hotel."

"Which hotel?"

"Chateau Marmont." I think I saw a small frown at that, but she carried on before I could ask about it.

"Have you recently had any threats of bodily harm, or a reason to believe someone may wish you some sort of harm?"

"No."

"So, just your groupies?" She asked with a smirk. I laughed and nodded. "Do you have any health problems?"

"Nope, fit as a fiddle."

"Any allergies?"

"Watermelon."

"Seriously?"

"Yup." She grinned at something as she continued to type away on her laptop furthest on the left. "What?"

"I hate watermelon. It's disgusting, and those seeds are annoying as hell."

I laughed loudly, feeling myself relax completely in my chair. This was the most we'd ever spoken before, and the longest I'd ever spent alone with her.

It was nice.

"How much are you paying me?"

"How's six grand? Three a day."

She nodded. It sounded higher than it was, you had to pay someone well when you were pretty much hiring them as a shield. She obviously already knew the risks of her profession.

That thought stopped me dead in my tracks. What if something happened to her? While she was protecting me? I hadn't even thought of the idea of her getting hurt, I just jumped at the chance to steal her away.

"Okay, so I'll come collect you at noon on Tuesday. And I prefer cashier's cheques."

"I can come pick you-"

"I'm watching you Hollywood, not the other way around. If you want me to do this for you, we're doing it my way. You got that?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?" I raised an eyebrow at her in confusion, and she sighed. "People get hurt in my line of work, and it's not easy for a lot of men to take me seriously in my field. I need to know that you won't do anything stupid if something happens."

I couldn't even look at her while she said that, so I turned my head and just nodded.

"Not good enough, look me in the eyes and give me your word." I looked over at the harsh tone of her words, and paled at the fiery glare she pierced me with.

"I promise. I'll let you do your job your way, no interference."

"Good. Well, I think that's all then. I'll take care of the transportation." She pulled a black backpack out from under her desk, putting in the laptop she'd been using along with all but one of her phones before zipping it up. "Come on, I'll walk you out."

I followed her out to the main exit, and she stood next to me, silent and watchful, as she waited for my car to arrive.

"You know, you're not on the clock. You can relax."

"I am relaxed right now," she said easily.

I didn't laugh, because I realized then that she was being completely serious. I had never once not seen her like this.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you constantly scanning? Are you just paranoid?" It came out sounding a little rude, but I hadn't meant it that way. I honestly just wanted to know. Luckily, she didn't seem offended.

"You should always be aware of your surroundings. The moment you aren't is the moment you become weak. Vulnerable. I refuse to be either of those things," she said simply. My car pulled up, and I cut her off before she could open my door for me.

This woman was a fucking gentleman.

A gentleman with the nicest ass in the solar system and who smelt like fucking strawberries.

I hesitated before closing my door. "So, can you tell me what B stands for yet?"

Her shoulders seemed to tense slightly, and she turned away. "No. Goodnight."

And just like that, she disappeared around the corner and was gone.

My driver was perfectly silent as he drove me home. He didn't try to distract me from my thoughts once. My mind was spinning around, still trying to absorb the fact that she had agreed to come with me. A goofy smile spread across my face.

I was going to do whatever it took to get this woman to like me, it was obvious that I had no other choice. I couldn't even look at another woman anymore. She was the only thing I wanted.

. . . . . . . . . .

It was hard to believe how much had happened in only a month. I moved back home, mended things with my family, made a couple new friends, gave up on my old ones.

And met her.

She was unlike anything else. Her confidence, strength, humour, compassion, loyalty, protectiveness, energy and her beauty. It was too much together like that, she didn't seem real. She wasn't human. I'd known that for a while though. Since the first time I'd seen her, I knew she was a fucking angel. A goddess.

And I would make her mine. I didn't care if it took every day for the rest of my life, she'd be worth it.

I heard the knock on my door at noon sharp, but I was already packed and waiting, and opened the door within seconds.

"Hey." Wow, eloquent. I forced my eyes to stay on her face, only taking in her black slacks and black polo shirt with my peripherals.

"You ready?"

"Yeah, would you like to come in for a bit?"

"No thanks. You need help with your bags?" Always straight to business.

"I'm pretty sure I can handle it," I told her with a playful smirk. She just nodded, and stepped back into the hallway so I could walk out and lock the door.

She didn't bother with small talk, not that I was expecting her to. The ride down together alone in the elevator was interesting. I felt like my body was buzzing with an almost electrical awareness of the woman standing beside me. Cool, calm, collected, standing rod straight with her arms crossed in front of her chest and those fucking shades. Most people probably would have found her intimidating, fuck, I still did.

But it was sexy as hell.

I eyed the beautiful, classical truck that was parked out front, my eyes going wide when she walked up to it and unlocked the tail of the covered bed.

"Is this your truck?"

"Of course not, I just thought we'd play a little bit of real life GTA before skipping town." I stared at her wide-eyed, and she shook her head with a slight smile. "She looked more like a piece of scrap metal when I first got her, but I loved her immediately. It's taken a lot of work over the past four years, but I've gotten her into pretty good shape."

"I thought you drove a bike though?"

"I do, but I can't very well carry a suitcase, let alone two on my Harley now, can I?"

I grinned, and slid into the cab. I couldn't help inhaling deeply when I closed my door.

It smelled like her.

"Well, it's a gorgeous truck."

"Thanks." She started her up, and glanced over her shoulder before pulling out onto the road.

"Why didn't you just take a cab?"

"I don't like being driven around," she said simply.

"Why not?" I asked curiously.

"Because I don't trust other drivers."

"It doesn't seem like you trust many things," I speculated.

"I don't." Her tone was short, and it was obvious that she wanted that topic to be finished with. We sat in silence for a long minute at a red light. It wasn't uncomfortable, but I preferred the sound of her voice. I searched for something to say, but she beat me to it. "You mind if I put on some music?"

"Not at all." I wanted to know what she liked besides SOAD. She hit a button on her dash, and it started a CD. I smiled, recognizing the melody instantly. "Led Zeppelin?"

"Yeah, are you a fan?" She asked, with a hint of curiosity.

"Huge fan. I have all of their albums on Vinyl, and even got to go see their tribute concert in London back in 2007. Jason Bonham did drums for his father again, but it was amazing." I got excited just remembering it, and when I looked over at B again she was looking at me with wide-eyed disbelief, and obvious envy while trying to concentrate on the road.

She was silent for a long minute, and I started to grow uneasy.

"Are you shitting me?"

At first I thought she was angry, but she seemed angry most of the time anyways so you can't really blame me. After a moment though, I saw she was just somewhere in between shocked and jealous, and felt myself smile. "Nope."

The big smile that momentarily took over her face was radiant. "Wow. Talk about a chance of a lifetime. They would have been so amazing to see live…" Her face turned thoughtful, and she seemed a bit more relaxed for the rest of the drive. I was incredibly comfortable, or maybe slightly smug would have been a better description. Any man would be, sitting in this awesome classic truck with an incredibly beautiful and captivating woman. Who also had awesome taste in music.

We made it to the airport without incident, and B parked her truck before we took a shuttle over to the terminal. I followed her, and sat next to her on the back bench. Now that I was looking for the signs, I could tell that she looked uncomfortable on the shuttle, her head swiveling around constantly. She seemed to relax slightly when we came to a stop and filed out.

We were processed and boarded quickly, even though B had set off the metal detectors and was taken aside for a few moments, and before I knew it the wheels were starting to pull up over to the run way. B pulled a pack of gum out of her pocket, and popped a piece into her mouth. She held the pack out for me in an offer, and I gladly took it. I hated feeling my ears pop. As soon as the light flashed, letting us know we could take of our belts, B leaned over and pulled a book out of her bag, and opened it up to the marker.

"Whatcha reading?" I sang, leaning over her to see. I straightened back up quickly when she flinched away from the proximity.

She flinched.

"Sorry, I-"

"Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies," she said quickly, cutting me off. There was a hint of barely concealed anger in her voice.

"What?" Her words caught me by surprise. She closed the book to show me the cover while simultaneously shifting away from me in her seat. Sure enough, the title was just as I had heard. "Is it any good?"

She shrugged. "It's not bad. I don't really have the patience to read the same book twice, so this one is riding the line of annoying me."

I laughed, for some reason I didn't find this very surprising. She seemed like the type to be easily annoyed. When I opened my eyes and grinned at her, she was looking at me curiously, but quickly went back to her book. A sharp pain went through my stomach.

"Hey, I'm sorry I-"

"Just respect my personal space Hollywood, and I'll respect yours. Drop it."

I don't want you to respect my personal space, I want you to live in it. "Okay."

I spent the next five hours in guilty silence, watching out of the corner of my eye while she flipped through her book at an intimidating speed. Was she actually reading the pages? She finished her book an hour before the flight finished, and spent the rest of the ride staring blankly at the chair in front of her, holding the book in her lap. Her watch beeped at five to seven, and she put away her book, put back on her pair of sunglasses, and did up her belt thirty seconds before the pilot announced we were approaching the airport, and asked the passengers to fasten their seat belts.

It was a little eerie.

The plane landed, and my body guard's mood flipped like switch. She was scanning the crowds as she shadowed closely behind me, and led us easily out of the airport. Once again, even though it was getting dark, she kept on those damn shades. She walked right up to a large man standing next to a sleek, black BMW. I glared at the man as he leaned in and whispered something into her ear. She nodded, took the keys from him, and didn't give him a second look as he disappeared into the crowd of people.

There were people taking pictures of me, but not a single person approached me. I noticed a lot of them eying B uncomfortably, but ignored it. It was a bit of a relief to be honest. She gestured for me to put my bag beside hers in the trunk, and then walked me over to my door while watching the crowd. After I closed the door behind me, she seemed to just appear on the other side of the car and slid into her seat.

"Nice ride."

"Had to get something suitable for Mr. Hollywood's social status," she said teasingly, making me grin.

I had to admit, I gripped onto the oh-shit handle bar like my life depended on it while she drove like a psycho through Hollywood. It seemed like she knew her way around, getting us to the hotel with ease, and without a GPS. She pulled up, and ran around to my door as I stepped out, and was close to my side as the doorman took our bags and she tossed the keys to the valet.

"One scratch, and you're a dead man," she told the young guy with a menacing smile. He just stared, open mouthed at her while she walked us inside.

"Edward! Dude, this is so cool, can I-"

B appeared in between us, blocking my path before the guy could grab me. She grabbed onto his outstretched arm, and used it to spin him around. "What the fuck, let go of me bitch! What's your problem?"

She whispered something to him, and I saw him freeze, and his face paled. When she let go of him, he bolted out of the area. She was back by my side in another second, leading me inside.

"What did you say to him?" I asked curiously.

"I explained how rude it was to walk up and invade someone's personal space, and how easy it is to disconnect a shoulder."

I laughed, and shook my head as she led the way to the counter. I couldn't help ogling that round ass as she knelt over the counter and talked quickly and quietly to the receptionist. Within seconds she had our key, and led us over to the elevator, taking the bag trolley away from the bellhop.

She didn't bat an eyelash at the large suite we went into, dropping her bag, pulling out some black device that looked similar to a large Blackberry, and quickly scouted the room.

"What are you doing?"

She held up a hand for me to be quiet, walked around the couch while staring at the screen, then backtracked quickly. She dropped down onto the floor, sliding underneath the coffee table, and came back out with a proud smile on her face. She placed something on the table, signalling for me to remain quiet with a finger over her lips, and went back to playing Star Trek landing party. I followed curiously. She pulled something out of the lampshade beside each of the beds, the washroom on the back of the toilet, and then the kitchen underneath one of the cupboards. She gathered the five little silver things similar to the size of a quarter, then walked out onto the balcony and placed them into an ashtray outside. She came back in and locked the thick glass door.

"Are those what I think they are?"

"Microphones," she said with a nod. She held out the black thing for me to look at. "It picks up on radio waves. If something is transmitting a wireless signal, this little baby will pick up on it in seconds."

"Why would they bug my room?"

"Come on Hollywood, do you really need to ask that? I bet this place misses having your face on all their magazines." She grabbed her bag and walked it over to the couch, where she sat down and pulled out her laptop. She seemed to withdraw into her own bubble, and I watched her for a few seconds before bringing my bag over to my room and unpacking my things. When I came back out, she was typing away on her phone.

She wasn't wearing her shoes anymore, and I grinned when I saw her bright purple socks. I wasn't expecting that, but it looked fucking adorable.

"Your agent will be meeting us here at eleven, and I'll drive the three of us to the restaurant afterwards. The meeting should be about three hours. Do you have anything else you want to do tomorrow?"

"Like what?"

She looked at me strangely. "Like whatever you want to do. I'm here to follow you, but if possible I would like to have some forewarning of your plans."

"No, just the meeting." I dropped down onto the couch across the coffee table from hers.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I hate this city. I just want to do this thing and go home." The words came out before I even thought about them, proximity to this woman messed with my head. She didn't question me though, and only nodded. I started thumbing through the manuscript again, highlighting issues I had with it to go over. My mind was somewhere else though, praying for the universe not to throw Tanya in my path while I was down here.

"Are you hungry?" Her spontaneous question surprised me, but at the mention of food my stomach growled loudly. "I'll take that as a yes. What do you want?"

"I'm not picky." I wanted to take her out to a restaurant or something, but quickly remembered her apparent aversion to them. I was expecting her to call for room service, but she just walked into the kitchen. I listened to the sound of things being moved around, and walked over curiously. She was putting pots on the stove, and pulling things out of the fridge. I watched as she threw some butter and spices into a sauce pan, and poured a pile of flour onto the counter. She made a well in it, cracked some eggs into it, then started whisking it with a fork. She flitted back and forth from her saucepan to her eggs and flour on the counter, and I pulled up a stool to watch. I didn't say anything; I was too stunned and entertained. I was not expecting this. She didn't seem like the kitchen type. I let her work in silence, supervising with a smile.

It took me a little while to realize that she was making pasta, from scratch. She made a pink sauce with mushrooms and peppers, and diced up cooked chicken to throw in. I was practically drooling by the time she put the giant plate of food in front of me, then started cleaning things.

"Oh my god, this is fucking delicious," I mumbled over a mouth full of pasta. I saw one of her rare smiles before she thanked me. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"Yeah, in a sec." I felt bad letting her wash dishes after making this for me, but putting down my fork was an impossible act. I finished every last bite, licking the plate afterwards. She sat down on the opposite side of the table from me, an equally large plate in front of her.

It was hard not to stare. It was a refreshing thing to see a woman with a healthy appetite. I had worried for a moment that she might have been shy to eat in front of me or something equally ridiculous, but I was obviously wrong. She inhaled her plate of food quickly. I couldn't help smiling, there was something about her when she ate that reminded me a bit about Emmett.

I threw on a t-shirt and a pair of grey flannel pyjama pants before dropping back down on the couch in the living room and turning on the TV. B came out of the kitchen a minute later, took a quick glance at me, and went to go sit out on the balcony with her phone. I could see the dim light from the screen softly lighting up that beautiful face in the dark. I tried not to frown, and forced myself not to go out and join her.

Baby steps.

. . . . . . . . . .

I woke up on the couch the next morning to the sound of a door closing, and something that sounded oddly like paper being crumpled up. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and looking at the front door. B was just coming in, wearing a pair of tight black yoga pants and a baggy grey t-shirt. Her hair was in a ponytail, and her shirt was soaked, her cheeks flushed an alluring shade of pink.

"Hey sleeping beauty. You're up."

"Where'd you go off to?"

"Running," she said simply, disappearing down the hall and closing a door. I stretched and sat up. I may have slept on the couch, but it was the best night's sleep I'd had in months. I didn't even remember grabbing the blanket I was covered in before falling asleep. I looked down at my watch, and saw that it was only six in the morning.

What the fuck? Did this woman even sleep? I heard the shower turn on, and had to adjust the uncomfortable bulge in my pants.

Get your shit together man. You are not going to go jerk it with her in the other room.

I went over to my room, and dropped down into my bed while I waited for her to finish. Saliva pooled in my mouth when I jumped into the shower after her. The whole fucking room smelt like strawberries.

I came back out to find her in her usual black slacks and a dark blue blouse, her hair wrapped up into a neat bun. I hadn't seen her wearing her usual 'uniform' in this bright of light before, the color complimented her complexion beautifully. It took me a minute to realize I was staring.

"Your agent won't be here for two hours, you hungry?"

"Not really, I'm not a big breakfast person. Thanks."

"Your loss." She got up, and went over to the kitchen. I sat in front of the TV, and half an hour later she came over with a fucking plate of bacon, and what looked like a large pink smoothie. She dropped down in the chair next to mine, putting her stuff on the table between us, and opened up her laptop. She shoved two pieces of bacon in her mouth, and her delicate fingers started flying over the keyboard.

Fuck. She was amazing.

My gaze kept flickering between the TV, her, and the place of bacon in front of me. I kind of regretted my choice, it smelt fucking awesome.

I saw her smile in my peripherals. She never looked at me, but spoke as though she had caught my eyes on the plate of salty goodness.

"Help yourself Hollywood."

"You sure?" She nodded, taking a big drink of her smoothie without looking away from her screen. "Thanks."

I inhaled the rest of her food, but she didn't seem to mind.

"What are you working on?"

"Work stuff," she mumbled vaguely.

"What're you drinking?"

"Strawberry-banana smoothie."

"Is it good? It looks good."

She looked up at me, and I was a bit taken aback by the emotions in her eyes. She looked so angry, but… there was something incredibly sad about it. She was arguing with herself about something, I could see it in those big, beautiful eyes, before she took a deep breath. "Yup. Want one?"

Yes. "No thanks." She sighed, got up, and walked over to the kitchen. She came back two minutes later with another smoothie and set in down in front of me without a word before she started typing again.

"How did you get that restraining order on James to go through so quickly?" I really didn't want her to stop talking. I wasn't sure if I'd ever get the chance to spend time like this with her again. I only had one solid day with her and I'll be damned if I was going to waste the opportunity to get her to talk to me.

"I know some people," she said simply. I frowned, nodding when she didn't elaborate. We sat in silence until there was a knock on the door. I got up to answer it, and the look she shot me had me sitting back down quickly.

"Mr. Crowley."

"Who are you?" I heard Tyler ask in a surprised tone.

"Mr. Cullen's security for the duration of his trip." I couldn't help but smile, that had to be the closest she'd ever come to saying my name.

God, I would love to hear her voice say my name. The two of them came around the corner, B wearing her black sunglasses again, and Tyler took a seat next to me. B sat down on the other couch, and pretended to be invisible. It didn't look like she was listening, but I was smart enough to know better. She sat silently while we talked for half an hour, before telling us that we needed to leave for our meeting. I saw Tyler ogling her ass as we walked behind her to the elevator, and smacked him in the back of his head. He grinned mischievously at me, unabashed.

I couldn't really blame him, but it still pissed me off.

The car was waiting outside for us, and B was scanning silently as she waited for me to get in. As soon as my door closed, she was walking around and coming in her door. She made her way easily to the restaurant, tossing her keys to the valet without a word and standing next to my door as I got out. Tyler was watching her with an amused smile.

"Seriously? You hired a girl for security?" He asked. "I get that she's hot, but come on."

The slight tensing of her posture let me know that she heard his every word, but she said nothing. I made sure she'd hear me easily as I spoke.

"Shut the fuck up Tyler. I only hire the best, and she's the fucking best. I've seen her beat the shit out of men more than twice her size without breaking a sweat. And she doesn't draw unwanted attention."

"Seriously?" He checked her out again curiously. I punched him in the arm. "OW! What the fuck Edward?"

"Stop being an asshole," I growled, and followed B inside.

She was trying to hide a smile, and that completely flipped my mood.

"Reservation for Mr. Cullen and Mr. Volturi," she said, approaching the Maître D.

"Ah, yes ma'am, I'm afraid that there was a slight mix up with the table-"

"Unacceptable. He will have the table I requested," she stated firmly.

"I'm sorry but-"

"Shut up." His eyes went wide as she took out her phone and brought it up to her ear.

"Really B, it's-"

"Shh." She waved me off, and the three of us watched her, surprised, as she whispered into the phone too quietly for me to hear her words. She hung up quickly, crossing her arms, and just watched the host patiently.

A minute later a man in an expensive suit rushed out. He whispered into the host's ear, and the man paled before running away.

"I'm so sorry for my employee's lack of intelligence Mr. Cullen. Please, follow me to your table."

I honestly wasn't surprised by this point, but Tyler was gaping at her, looking a little intimidated as we walked into the restaurant. The owner, Benjamin he said his name was, sat us down at a large private table in the corner, and B immediately stood behind the chair in the corner, sitting down after we did. I'm pretty sure I saw the guy wink at her before he left.

It reminded me of the dinner with Rose and Kate, her taking the corner seat. It clicked then, why she was so insistent on her requested table, why she didn't like restaurants. I should have seen it earlier.

She didn't like being surrounded.

We ordered drinks, well Tyler and I did, while we waited for the others. They came in barely a minute after our drinks arrived.

"Edward! Nice to see you!" Marcus greeted enthusiastically, pulling me into a hug.

"You too, thanks for considering me," I said, sitting back down next to him. He looked around out table, and I saw his eyes go wide when they landed on her.

"B?"

"Hey Mac," she said, a slight smirk on her lips. I looked between them in shock.

"You guys know each other?" How the hell would he know her? I caught her give him an odd look, shaking her head slightly, and he nodded once. What the fuck?

"Yeah, we go way back," he said with a soft smile, and I swear she rolled her eyes behind her glasses. "Okay, so let's get down to work. What did you think of my manuscript?"

"Loved it, it looks amazing," I told him honestly.

"I was hoping you'd say that. You're the first person I thought of for this role. So you're in?"

"Edward has a few conditions before accepting any contracts," Tyler said quickly. Marcus' mouth twitched up.

"And what would those be?"

"No sex scenes. I don't care if you want to use a body double, but I don't want to do that." My eyes flickered over to B, but she wasn't looking at me. Marcus thought about it for a moment before nodded to himself.

"That's easily doable actually. Anything else?"

"Just a few questions about the script," I said, relieved. He still wanted me. The three of us ordered lunch, I wasn't surprised that B didn't get anything. Not when she was in full-blown work mode like this. She sat there silently while the three of us ate, drank, and went over the script. I went over a the few questions I had, and we discussed the other actors he was considering for some of the other roles, along with the time frame he had in mind for filming.

Three hours later, he had me agreeing to do the movie.

"Excellent," he said, patting his swollen stomach. "So, my assistant will come by the hotel tomorrow with the contracts for you to sign. We'll be in touch." He shook my hand, and it looked like he was about to hug B, but stopped himself before getting close to her. He pulled a small notepad out of his pocket, writing something down, before ripping off the page, folding it, and handing it to her with a wink. She grinned at him, and gave him one small nod. After one more surprisingly gentle smile for her, he gave us a wave before walking out. After I finished my scotch, we left.

"So? Where to?" Tyler asked excitedly.

"What do you mean?"

"We need to celebrate man! This movie is going to be huge!"

"Thanks, but I'm just going to head back to the hotel."

"Dude, are you still beating yourself up about her? You need to just-"

"Shut up Tyler. You don't know what you're fucking talking about," I hissed. The intense wave of anger dissolved instantly, replaced by a soothing buzzing of electric energy when B reached out and put a gentle hand on my arm. I took a deep breath, relaxing back into my seat, and her hand went back to the steering wheel.

How the fuck did she do that?

"Sorry Tyler, I just really don't have any more patience for this city. We'll celebrate with the others at the casting party, whenever they have it."

"It's okay man. Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it."

"I know, just drop it."

B dropped him off at his house outside of town, and then started to make the way back to the hotel. It was really quiet for a little while. I was embarrassed by my outburst in front of her, and didn't know what to say.

She spoke first.

"You okay Hollywood?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"It's cool. Want to talk about it?"

"Why, you want to hear about it?" I spat defensively. It was more so out of habit, and I regretted it immediately, but she didn't even flinch from my harsh tone. I was usually the one asking questions, it was weird hearing them from her.

She pushed her sunglasses back into her hair, finally not hiding her beautiful eyes from me any longer. "I'm not into the whole gossip thing, and your business is your own. If you feel like talking, I'll listen though." Her voice was gentle, and I was surprised by the small smile she offered me.

Did I want to talk to her about this?

Yes, I really did. I'd never wanted to talk about what Tanya had done before, but right now, I had this sudden urge to just let it out. I wanted to tell her.

And I wanted her to know me.

"I was dating this actress named Tanya a few months ago." She nodded, and waited patiently for me to continue. She wasn't asking for details, it seemed like she really did just want to let me talk. The words just started pouring out. "I wasn't in love with her or anything, she was hot, but she was a cold-hearted fucking bitch. Things had been okay at first, but after a while… I had been thinking about breaking things off, but then she told me she was pregnant. I was pissed at first, but once I calmed down and thought about it… I got really excited. The idea of being a father started to sound really awesome. So, I did the right thing, and asked her to marry me. She said yes. I woke up the next morning and she was gone, she disappeared for five fucking days. I thought she'd been kidnapped or killed, I had every cop in fucking LA looking for her, and then one morning she just fucking showed up. She wouldn't answer me when I asked her where she went. She wouldn't even let me speak. She told me the baby wasn't mine, and that she had an abortion. She didn't want to jeopardize her career or body, but said she'd still marry me. I kicked her out of my house, and put it on the market the next day. Packed a few bags and moved into a hotel because I couldn't stand to look at my own house. I hired people to pack up my shit and put it in storage, and as soon as I finished filming I moved back home. I had given up too much for her, which was no one's fault but my own, but being so close to having a family and just having it disappear, made me realize just how much I missed mine. So I moved back to New York to be closer to them. I couldn't stand the idea of staying in this hell hole for another second. Just being in this fucking town, I knew if I saw her, I'd probably fucking kill her."

I relaxed against my seat, surprised with how liberating it felt to actually tell someone the whole story. B didn't say anything, but I was kind of glad. I didn't want any sympathy.

I was surprised when she pulled up in front of a grocery store instead of the hotel.

"You coming in with me or do you want to sit in the car?"

"What?" She looked at me, not wanting to repeat herself I guess. "Oh, I guess I'll come in." She nodded, and I followed her silently as she grabbed a cart. I wasn't sure what she was doing. She bought a big pack of toilet paper, a couple steaks, a couple cartons of eggs, two large grapefruits, paper lunch bags, bungee cords, two giant wicker baskets, and a chocolate cheesecake. She didn't say a word to me as she brought her stuff up the checkout and paid. She wouldn't let me carry any of her bags.

No one swarmed me, or even approached us, though they watched. The way that she walked, the way she held her head and shoulders, all determined and slightly intimidating, just shouted not to fuck with her. I still found it impressive, but at the same time, it didn't really intimidate me personally anymore. I just thought her confidence was hot as fuck.

"What are you doing?"

She didn't say anything, but pulled over next to a park.

"Can you wait here? I need fifteen minutes."

"Uh, yeah, sure."

She hopped out of the car, and I listened as she rummaged around in the trunk for ten minutes. She sprinted into the park with one of the grocery bags, and came back two minutes later, putting it back in the trunk.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"You'll see."

She drove out of town to a more suburban area, and pulled up in front of a house. She looked at me for a minute, looking for something in my face, and then gave me a bright smile.

"I suggest you take out your camera, you might want to remember this." She hopped out of the car, leaving the engine running, and opened up the trunk. She walked up, picking the lock on the gated driveway, and opened the doors to about a meter wide. She shoved a grapefruit under each panel of the gate, wedging them in place. She grabbed her two baskets out of the trunk, one was filled with eggs, the other rolls of toilet paper. There was a bungee cable on each handle of each basket, and she attached them to the gates. My eyes went wide as she took a giant paper bag out of the trunk, closed it, and then ran up to the front door. She lit the bag on fire, sprinted back to the gate, and pulled back the basket of toilet paper rolls. When she released it, the rolls went soaring, landing all over the trees, the lawn, the shrubs. She didn't hesitate an instant before doing the same thing with the basket of eggs, and even from this distance I could easily hear the large scattered cracks of them landing all over the expensive Cadillac and the front of the house. She bolted back into the car and shut the door.

"B, what the fuck-"

"Shut up, just watch," she hissed, and I looked back at the door the second Tanya walked out. She screamed, and stomped on the burning paper bag. She froze, looking down at what looked like a giant pile of shit of her designer boots, and looked at her front yard in horror, her face beat red.

Somehow, I did manage to snap a picture though my crying laughter, before B sped off down the street.

"Did that seriously just happen?" I gasped, clutching at my side. She was smiling silently next to me in her seat while she drove. "That was fucking amazing! How did you even know where she lived?"

"I have my ways," she said vaguely. I laughed again. "Do you feel a bit better?"

I fucking loved her idea of comfort. "Yeah, I do actually. Thank you for that, you didn't need to do that for me."

"Don't mention it."

"What were the steaks and cheesecake for?" She didn't throw them.

She looked at me like I was an idiot. "Dinner. Did you really think I'd waste a fucking rib-eye on her?"

I burst into laughter again, and was grinning the entire drive back to the hotel.

. . . . . . . . . .

So, I'm hoping by now you're starting to see that Edward isn't really such a bad guy. He just has some bad habits that he's working to break away from. And I know a few of you have thought B was coming off as pretty harsh, but just like everyone else, she has her own demons. She's not all bad though. Don't be too hard on her.

Have you ever played a prank on someone before?

So, just out of curiosity, is B's story something you'd be interested in reading? I've only had one person express any interest in it. PM me or something? I would love to hear from you!
-Kitty