Hey guys! I know some of you are a little confused, but all I can really tell you is that things will be explained as the story progresses. I have reasons for everything that I'm doing, and my characters aren't without their own faults. Thank you for reviewing, following, or faving! You guys make this really fun, and I always love hearing from you!
SM owns the characters, but they're not the same anymore. Not in my world.
Okay kids, I've gotten tired of warning you. It's your own fault if you're still here; I won't tell if you don't.
Song: Sad Edward plays the piano. There's a link on my profile to an awesome version of "What it's Like" by Everlast, done on the piano. Just picture Edward's deep, sexy voice singing along. Mmm.
. . . . . . . . . .
"Edward?"
"Go away Alice."
"Thank god, I thought you'd died." She walked into my room and wrinkled her nose. "It sure smells like you did. When was the last time you showered?"
"I said go away Alice."
"Edward, you need to get out of your apartment, this isn't healthy."
"What's the point? I'm never going to get to see her again."
"You don't know that."
"I do know Alice, you don't know what I did, what I almost-"
"I do know, actually."
"What?"
"She told me everything. I've known her and Emmett were siblings for weeks, actually. And she told me what you did, and what she did to you afterwards."
"Is she okay?" I begged, jolting upright. Alice looked at me sadly, with a trace of annoyance.
"I had to have dad reset her shoulder for her last week. It took a while to convince her to let him touch her, but she's fine now. She was back to kicking ass at work again Friday night."
"I didn't mean to grab her shoulder, it was an accident Alice. She fucking screamed. She passed out from it right in front of me! And I could have… I swear, if I knew I never would have sent that e-mail, I never wanted to hurt her Alice. I was worried, and I was pissed off, but I'd never want to hurt her or put her in danger." I was so congested it was getting hard to speak, and she handed me a Kleenex and I blew my nose furiously. "I fucking love her Alice, do you have any idea how fucked up that is? I don't even know her fucking name, but I'm in love with her. I haven't been able to even look at another woman since the first fucking moment I saw her. I don't know what the hell to do anymore..."
"I told you," she said happily.
"What are you talking about? Told me what?" I mumbled. I froze when I looked up and she was standing in the doorway to my bedroom, leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest.
She looked amazing. Her face was all healed up, and she had her hair in a thick French braid. She was wearing dark jeans that sat low on her hips, a lacy blue shirt and her black leather jacket. I'd never seen her dressed so casually before, and to be honest, she looked like a completely different person.
"You look like shit, Hollywood," she said in a bored tone.
"You look fucking beautiful," I blurted out. My sister laughed, and I saw the corner of B's mouth twitch.
"Thanks. Take a shower, I want to talk to you." Without another word, she spun around and left the room. I gawked at my sister, who winked, and then followed her out of the room.
She was in my house.
Holy shit.
I shot out of my bed, jumping into the shower quickly before pulling on a pair of jeans. I caught a glimpse of the large purple bruise on my ribs, and quickly pulled on a plain white t-shirt. I brushed my teeth, and walked out to my living room as casually as I could force myself to move.
B and Alice were leaning against each other on my couch, looking at something on B's phone. Alice burst out laughing while B smirked, but as if she felt me walk into the hallway, she quickly looked up at me. Alice followed her gaze.
"Are you sure it's okay if I stay?" Alice asked her.
"Of course, this will only take a minute. I'm better at controlling my temper with you around, pixie." She nudged her with her elbow, and looked back up at me. I went and sat down cautiously, and she seemed surprised to see me sit right next to her instead of across from her. If this was my last chance to see her though, I was going to fucking appreciate it close up.
God, she was so fucking beautiful. It was painful to even look at her.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, begging her with my eyes to understand.
"I know, but you shouldn't be," she said quietly. My eyes widened, and she huffed before straightening up and speaking again quickly, looking annoyed. "As much of an asshole as you were, I don't actually believe you want me to die, if what you said to Alice in your room was actually true."
I felt my ears burn red, but I couldn't bring myself to deny it. I was fucking gone. "It is."
She glared at me, and then pinched the bridge of her nose while tightly closing her eyes in frustration. "Okay, yeah, whatever. The point is, you didn't know what you were really doing, how could you have? You wanted answers, and I don't blame you because I would have done the exact same thing. Fuck, I won't even talk to someone unless I do a background check on them first."
"Did you do one on me?" Alice asked with a big smile.
"Oh yeah, loads of them," she said easily, then looked back at me. "Point is, there was no harm done, and it was an accident."
"Are you serious? I can never fucking tell when you're being serious."
She watched me carefully for a moment, then grinned. "Yes Romeo, I'm being fucking serious."
Her nickname didn't make sense today. "Romeo?"
"You're being fucking tragic right now," she said teasingly, shooting me a wink. I laughed loudly, and so did my sister who wrapped her arms around B to give her a hug. My sister seemed to really enjoy hugging her, and I found it entertaining watching the gradual change in B's reaction to them. I was just sort of relieved she was teasing me again, it made things feel... normal. And I thought I'd lost that forever. The horrible memory of her scream echoed through my mind again. The sound was burned into my memory.
"I'm sorry for grabbing your shoulder."
"Don't be, you were lucky you had an easy shot, else you'd probably be in the hospital right now."
I couldn't help it, my hand went over my rib automatically, and her eyes narrowed.
"Let me see."
"What?"
"Let me see your ribs," she ordered. I sighed, and leaned back against the couch before lifting up my shirt. Alice gasped, but B's face remained impassive. I shivered as her soft hands moved over my stomach, checking my ribs with a serious expression.
It hurt like hell, but I never wanted her to stop.
"Nothing's broken, just bad bruising," she said. Her face softened, just as her voice did, and once again I felt like I was talking to a completely different person. They were all the same though, they were all her, and I'd yet to find a version that I didn't care for. "Look, I... I'm sorry for hurting you, for handling the situation like I did. I'm not going to make any excuses for myself, because it won't change anything. But I wish I'd handled it differently."
And with that, she got up quickly and walked over to my kitchen. I was a little stunned, because honestly, I hadn't really wanted an apology from her. The look of betrayal in her eyes that night... I had thought about that night constantly, what she'd said. How she regretted letting her guard down around me. That had taken awhile to figure out, because she was always guarded. But there were moments in L.A., like when she'd cooked for me and just let me sit with her, when she'd asked me if I needed someone to talk to and let me just vent to her about Tanya... Compared to what little I really knew about her, that seemed extremely out of character. I had to think that if that had been her finally starting to warm up to me, then being attacked, and then me almost jeopardizing whatever the fuck her situation was because I was obviously missing something, she would definitely have felt betrayed and more than likely overwhelmed. I looked over at Alice, who had turned away from me and was wiping her eyes. I gave her a questioning look when she turned back to me.
"I've never seen her like that," Alice said, and then a fire burned in her eyes as she scowled at me. "You just had to push, didn't you?" She whispered, then continued on without giving me a chance to speak. "I told you to stay away from her, but you kept pushing. Why did you have to go to Aro? Why didn't you just come to me before you tried to get someone to investigate my friend?"
"Alice-"
"No, Edward. Let me say this." She looked in the direction of my kitchen again. "The only reason I'm not kicking your ass is because she's been tearing herself up with guilt worrying about you. She's the one that's been making me call you and check on you. But you had to fucking push. You know, she would have told you. She was going to tell you. She just had to make sure she could trust you first, but you took that chance away from her."
"Alice I have no fucking clue what's going on. None of this makes any goddamn sense."
"What doesn't make any sense?" B asked, walking back in and sitting next to me with a bag of ice wrapped in a towel. She lifted my shirt back up before gently placing it over the bruise.
It felt fucking amazing.
"Emmett said you were in witness protection."
She sighed. "That would be over-simplifying things to the extreme. I'm not in some sort of witness protection program... anymore. Not really."
"What does that mean?"
"It means the government, the FBI, the police, I can't fucking trust any of them. Every time they've tried to hide me or protect me, they've almost gotten me killed. I've been out for about three years now." She looked back at me again. "The way I handled things with you were wrong, but if your lawyer had looked into the information you sent him, he would have found out that there are no females under payroll at Rose's club. He would have hired a private investigator. They would have followed me, they would have found my other establishments of employment, and they would have found out about my aliases, and then they would have found out about Emmett. Fuck... it's a lot to explain, but it's happened before. That's why Emmett freaked out on you, he was afraid of it happening again. We've never been safe this long before, what we've been doing here is working."
"But why'd you even come to LA with me?"
She gave me a sad smile. "Because I didn't think you would back off, and that maybe the extended time would have made you... give up? Hopefully you'd lose curiosity, and wouldn't be tempted to dig further. Besides, I'm good at hiding my face. It's names I worry about."
Fuck.
"And I understand if you want to contact the police, or press charges on me. But if you do it, I'll warn you now that I'll know as soon as you do. I'll disappear, and they'll never catch me. I don't exist. So you might as well as just tell me now if those are your intentions."
"No!" Her eyes widened in surprise, and I coughed to clear my throat. "I mean, no, I had no intention of contacting the authorities," I said at a much more appropriate volume.
The room was quiet then. Alice was watching B worriedly, who was watching me patiently while I tried to process all this new information.
And I guess I got what she was saying. It was fucking crazy, but I got it.
And I felt like a piece of shit. It was obviously that she didn't want to be telling me any of this, but I'd forced her hand. And here she was, trying to apologize and give me what I'd almost inadvertently hurt her for.
I kinda wished she'd just punch me again.
"You know, I would do anything to protect my family too. I understand why you did what you did. I was angry, and wish I could have handled it differently too."
"Truce?"
I grinned brightly, like I'd fucking turn that down. "Definitely."
She nodded to the icepack I was holding under my shirt. "Fifteen minutes on fifteen minutes off for an hour a couple times a day," she said casually.
"So let's get this straight. You're a body guard slash head of security for New York's biggest night club, a librarian who also teaches classes at a gym, and now you're a doctor too?"
"Not a doctor, I just did a bit of training as an EMT."
"Anything else?"
She shrugged.
"So… does this mean I'm not banned anymore? Can I come see you?"
She pursed her lips, and the look in her eyes was very sad. "I don't know if that's a good idea."
A sharp pain radiated through my chest, and I'm sure that she saw it by the look on her face. "Why?"
"Because it wouldn't be fair for me to let you waste your time with this knowing what your feelings are."
So it's not because she doesn't want to see me, but because she doesn't want to hurt me? I laughed.
"I'm not asking you to fucking marry me, I'm just asking for a chance to get to know you."
She grinned, then laughed loudly. I saw her flinch from the movement, her hand going over her stomach, but I didn't say anything.
Alice was watching us with an amused smile, as B seemed to think carefully about her answer.
"You're not banned, but if you keep checking out my ass every time I turn around I'll beat you up again."
I laughed, clutching at my stomach from the movement also. We gave each other a knowing grin.
"Okay, well, we should get going," B said, standing up.
I made sure not to visibly frown. I had a million more questions for her, but I had a feeling she knew that. And was trying to avoid them. I decided not to push my luck, or her. I was in a much better fucking place than I had been an hour and a half ago. "What are you ladies up to today?"
She smiled mischievously, rubbing her hands together as she looked at my sister.
"Rose wants to lose ten pounds before the wedding, I'm joining in for moral support," my sister said excitedly.
I felt my face pale. "And you're getting her to help you?"
"Of course, what's wrong with that?" She looked between us curiously.
"What are you going to get them to do?"
"Just a bit of spinning and some fun with some medicine balls." She looked like a cat with canary feathers sticking out of the corner of her mouth. I couldn't help laughing, and gave Alice a tight hug.
"Remember Alice, I've always loved you, and you're the most amazing sister in the world."
"Why are you telling me this?" She glared at me suspiciously.
"Because I've seen what she does to people in that gym, and this is probably going to be the last time I see you alive."
B laughed, and clapped me on the arm. "You can be really sweet sometimes, Hollywood."
I walked them over to the door, my sister looking a little bit nervous. I was sad to see them go, but hopeful at the same time.
This wasn't good-bye.
She spun around and ran back from the elevator, and I looked down at her in surprise. Her head darted from side to side, inspecting the empty hall, before holding out her hand. I took it cautiously, and she gave me a firm handshake.
"Hi, I'm Bella." My eyes went wide as I froze.
Bella.
Fucking beautiful.
"Okay, that's enough estrogen for me. See you around, Hollywood." She spun back around, and made her way back to the elevator just before it opened. Then they were gone.
I went back inside, dropping down on the couch. I couldn't restrain the ear splitting grin that spread over my face.
Her name was Bella. I knew I would probably never be able to call her that, but just knowing, I felt like gravity had shifted.
She may not love me, barely even like me, but I felt like I finally had the chance to change that now. I wouldn't screw this up again. Bella would fall for me. I was determined, and she didn't stand a fucking chance.
. . . . . . . . . .
I was just reaching for my doorknob when my phone started buzzing, and I sighed before answering.
"Hey Tyler."
"Edward! Hey man, how's it going? What are you up to?"
"I was just heading out for a run. What's up?"
"Oh, I'll be quick. I just wanted to give you an update, I never really see you any more, with you being so far, you know? They're still working on casting for Rogue, but they've set the date for the pre-production party for the twenty-third of October already. No changes in the news for Black Sunrise, last I heard was that they're pretty much done the editing already, it's just mostly admin. So the tour is still set for January."
"Oh, cool, I'll make sure to put that in my calendar now. How are things going in LA?"
"Oh, you know; sunny, warm, exciting. All sorts of awesome. I can't see why you haven't come back yet."
"I told you I was moving here permanently Tyler. It was your decision to keep up this partnership long distance."
"I guess I just figured you'd change your mind after a couple weeks, but it's been two months. It's not the same here without you."
"I'm sorry man, I don't really know what to tell you. I like my life here."
"What do you do all day? Just hang around your apartment, go to that club, and go running?"
I didn't say anything, because he was right. But only partially. There was so much more. Being so close to my sister and parents again changed everything. And there was Rose too, and she was marrying someone who I considered a good friend and great guy, (even if he wanted me dead at the moment.) Being with family, being really loved, I just couldn't feel whole again without it.
And I wasn't even going to mention B.
Bella. Her name is Bella.
I was grinning stupidly at my door, and shook my head when I caught the sound of Tyler's voice.
"Edward? Are you still there? Hellooooo?"
"Oh, sorry, what was that?"
"Never mind. I'll talk to you again soon. Take care man."
"You too."
I pushed the guilt out of my mind, and put on some Metallica before running out of my door.
Today was going to be a good day, despite the date. Friday the 13th was holding a lot of promise, I could just feel it. I didn't go to the club last weekend because we went out of town for mom's birthday. Luckily Alice had cooled down and didn't seem particularly hostile towards me anymore. I was a little nervous because I hadn't seen Emmett since the day B had passed out at my house, and even though she had apparently forgiven me, I was too nervous to go to the gym and see if he had also.
He banned me. He was her fucking brother. I would kill me too, or anyone that had ever hurt or endangered my little sister. I wouldn't hesitate.
Yes, I was a little scared.
I got into the habit of timing my runs, trying to get myself on a more regular schedule. Tyler threw me off even more, because I had already slept in.
My area of town was kind of boring to run in, so to also kill a bit of extra time, I would walk the forty-minute route to central park, run laps around the lake, and then grab a coffee while reading the paper before going back. In my running gear, with my aviators and a baseball cap, not many people gave me a second glance.
Well, that wasn't true, but less people recognized me anyways.
It wasn't like I had any other plans, being late wouldn't really change anything. It was really gorgeous out today, sunglasses were a must. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was fairly warm for the middle of September. I felt myself start to vibrate with excited energy, and sped up to a light jog, bringing myself to the lake just a couple minutes earlier.
I am so thankful that it did. The lake was so large, if I hadn't gotten there at that exact moment I might never have seen her.
Bella was running along the edge of the lake, wearing a pair of tight black jogging pants, with a baggy, long sleeved white cotton shirt. Her long hair was tied back in a braid, she had her giant black and neon green headphones on, and as always, her large sunglasses.
She wasn't alone though. Running along next to her with an even bigger grin than hers, was a giant beast of a German Shepard. He was lean and muscular, solid black, and I could easily see him being as tall, if not bigger than her if he stood up on his hind legs. He seemed very well disciplined though, he was very attentive of her, and stayed glued to her side while matching her pace as they ran without a leash.
I followed before I lost sight of them.
I kept pace for about ten minutes, until a sick feeling spread through my stomach. I told myself that I wouldn't screw this up, and fucking stalking her was definitely something that could screw shit up.
So I started running faster.
She had already set a pretty brisk pace, she was fucking fast, so it wasn't easy, or quick. It must have taken me at least another ten minutes to catch up to her, but my excitement provided a lot of adrenaline so I still felt amazing.
I knew better by now than to just reach out and touch her, she was big on her personal space. With me, anyways. I pulled out my headphones, and pushed a little ahead of her before ginning and giving her a wave.
Apparently her dog wasn't a fan of people waving, because he jumped in between us when she slowed and growled at me.
My life flashed before my eyes.
"Zeus!" She called in a strong voice, and his head snapped toward her immediately. She pointed to the ground by her right side and he sprang back up to his feet and dashed to her side, lying down in the grass next to her. She pushed back her sunglasses and smiled brightly at me. "Hey, what's up?"
I just stared.
"Don't worry, he'd never hurt you. He's just protective. Well, he wouldn't unless I told him to," she said with a grin. I relaxed slightly at the sight.
She was fucking glowing today, and it was hard not to stare. Why was she smiling so much? It was awesome, but weird at the same time for her.
"Sorry, I just saw you running and had to say hi. How's it going?"
"Great, you?"
Fuck, I couldn't think with her smiling like that.
"I'd have to say amazing. You seem like you're in a good mood today, what's up?"
She shrugged. "I just have the feeling that today is going to be a good day," she said, kneeling down and scratching behind Zeus' ears. His tongue rolled out of his mouth as he looked up at her happily.
It was kind of overwhelming, and I dragged my right hand through my hair in frustration before putting my hat back on as I fought the urge to just pull her towards me and kiss her.
Her and that dog could too easily kill me though.
"Have you been out here long?"
"Not really. I usually just do two laps, I still have one more. You?"
"Same," I said, unable to contain my smile. "Would you guys, uh, like some company for a bit?"
"Sure… I don't really talk while I run though."
"Me neither," I told her easily, plugging my headphones back in. She smiled, sliding hers back on, and straightened back up. I gestured for her to lead the way, and she smiled before looking down at her dog, nodding her head, and took off at a light jog once he stood up excitedly.
She didn't stay at that pace long though, and after about fifteen minutes I began to think that she was testing me. She just kept slowly increasing her speed but I refused to tap out. I was a good runner, I'd been doing it steadily for ten years, but Bella ran like a fucking dear, and her wolf easily matched her pace, running in between us looking fucking ecstatic.
I almost laughed in relief when she slowed down to a jog once more, my legs burning. She came to a stop at a bike rack, and stopped at one that had a white basket with a locked lid on the front. She took out a bottle of water and a collapsible bowl, and poured half the bottle into it for Zeus before taking a swig herself. He lapped it up greedily, making concerning choking sounds.
"Slow down greedy," she cooed, rubbing his head. He actually fucking listened, and she smiled adoringly at him.
Stop staring at her fucking mouth and say something!
"So, do you come here often?" Ugh, did I seriously just say that?
"Very original, Hollywood," she said with an eye roll. "I really expected more from you." Her voice was teasing, but there was something about her stance that made her seem uncomfortable. Even her dog picked up on it, and growled at me again.
I liked him.
She snapped her fingers, and he sat down quietly at her side. "Sorry, it's still just kind of weird talking about… myself," she explained uncomfortably, seeing the worry in my face most likely. "I only come here on Thursdays and Fridays, I like it better during the day when it's not as busy."
"So I take it Monday to Wednesday you work at the Library?" She looked at me suspiciously, shifting again. I looked around to make sure no one was within hearing distance, but the area actually seemed kind of deserted. "Before I knew you were Emmett's sister, he told me his little sister worked at a Library. I was running with him one time when he asked you to cover a spinning class."
She grinned and shook her head before picking up the bowl and putting it away in her basket. She pulled out a bright yellow Frisbee. "So, you biked here?"
She didn't pause as long before answering this time. "Yeah, it takes about forty minutes. You don't live close exactly either."
"Forty minute walk. I don't like running around my block."
"I hear you, it can be so boring running around on cement. If I lived closer I'd run here every day. What are you up to now?"
"I usually just grab a coffee and read the paper for a while, would you like one?"
"Oh, no thanks. Caffeine makes me all jittery," she said easily, and I frowned. "But, uh, I'm still sticking around for a while if you wanted to… hang out?"
"Sure." Stop grinning you idiot.
"Oh, okay. Well go ahead and grab your coffee, we'll just be over there." She nodded to the open field before detaching the basket from her bike.
It was a pretty cool basket, I'd never seen one like it before. It was like a locking picnic basket that you could attach to your bike. I watched as she walked away quickly, throwing the disk once she got into the clearing. The giant black dog shot after it in the same second.
This day was already turning out better than I could have dreamed. I sat down in the grass, not reading my paper while watching Bella play Frisbee with her "baby." I was once again captivated by her effortless style of beauty. I have never seen her wear make-up, or dress in fancy clothes or jewelry before, but she really didn't need it.
She was perfect just the way she was, her damp shirt clinging to her back slightly. I was really curious about what sort of shirt she was wearing under it. It seemed to have a really neat design, but I couldn't make it out. She wore her dog out after about twenty minutes, and he trotted over and dropped down next me in the grass.
I smiled, and reached out to pet him, but stopped myself quickly and pulled my hand back into my lap.
"You can pet him if you want, just let him sniff your hand first," she said, dropping down on the other side of him. She smiled, and held her hand in front of his face. He sniffed her automatically, and she ruffled the shaggy fur on top of his head. I copied her movements, and he completely ignored me while letting me pet him.
"Have you never pet a dog before?"
"What?"
"You're grinning like a two year old with a new bike," she said with a bit of a laugh.
"I've pet dogs before," I said, rolling my eyes. "I love them, I always wanted one growing up, but my dad's allergic.
"Mine was too," she said with a warm smile, digging through her basket and pulling out a book.
"What's that?"
"Inheritance," she said, flashing me the cover.
"What's it about?"
"A dragon rider, magic, elves, dwarves… that sort of stuff."
"Oh, like that Eragon movie?"
"Yes, actually," she said with a hint of annoyance. "This is the last book in that series."
"And this displeases you why?"
She grinned. "I really like the series, but it never should have been made into a movie. I find that the intricacy of the books is one of its best qualities, and those sorts of things are lost when shoved into a two hour time limit."
I nodded, it was a common complaint, and I felt the exact same way really. I forced my eyes to look back down at my paper, though I took in none of the words. The buzzing awareness that came from being in her presence was too distracting, my eyes flickering to her every time she flipped a page.
That was pretty often, she was a fast fucking reader.
She seemed completely at ease, and it made me a little sad actually. It was obvious that she wasn't affected by the same force as I was.
Change it then.
"So, you like reading?"
Fuck me.
She laughed, not looking up from her book. "Yeah, you could say that."
"Why?"
"I find it relaxing, I guess. Sometimes it's nice to live in someone else's universe instead of my own for a while."
"I feel the exact same way. I still remember when I was young, I'd sometimes get so lost in a story, and in my mind it was like I was the protagonist, trying to picture exactly how they would feel, why they would do what they did. It's why I wanted to become an actor, I loved recreating it so much that I wanted to find some way to do it for the rest of my life."
I was a little stunned by my own words. They were completely true, but I don't think I had ever really told someone that before. I looked over at Bella, who had the most breath-taking smile on her face.
"For me, when I read a story, it just puts a million different possibilities and ideas into my mind, and most of the time I run away with those ideas, and they morph together, and it makes all these other stories develop in my mind. When I was a kid, I wanted to do nothing more than write them all down and see where they would take me. Make something tangible of my own, you know?"
I nodded, smiling back. "Did you?"
"Did I what?"
"Write any of your own stories?"
For a second I had almost thought I'd slapped her from her expression, but she collected herself quickly. The new smile that replaced her previous one was completely forced.
"I did, once. But it didn't work out very well."
"What do you mean? Just a bad plot?"
She laughed, but there was no joy in the sound. "I'm sorry, can we just… talk about something else?" Her arms sort of wrapped around her own torso, like she was hugging herself or trying to just hold herself together, and there was something so heartbreaking about it. I wanted so badly to replace her arms with my own. She looked so damn small and vulnerable right now, it was off-putting.
"Yeah, of course."
She took a deep breath, then looked at me over her sunglasses. The sight of those beautiful brown eyes once again made my heart stutter. "What sort of things do you like to do in your spare time?"
I was stunned for a moment. It was kind of strange having her ask me a personal question. I was still kind of waiting for her to go back to ignoring me.
She wanted to know something about me. It was hard to think with her looking at me like that, all normal.
"I like running, reading, video games… nothing too exciting," I said, feeling kind of lame.
"You have a grand piano at your apartment. Is that just a fancy decoration?"
"Uh, no. I play."
"Well, that's something that can be considered exciting," she said easily, and looked back down at her book.
"What sort of music do you like?"
"Anything and everything except for country. I have a zero-tolerance policy for country music. You?"
"Mostly classical and classic rock."
"Cool." She flipped another page. I didn't really feel like she was ignoring me though, she always seemed almost hyper-aware of her surroundings. She was just effortlessly multi-tasking.
I couldn't help thinking that we were extremely different, but I pushed that away quickly. We liked some of the same music, we both liked to run apparently.
We both loved our families.
And there was nothing wrong with being different. It would be boring being with another version of myself.
"So, do your parents live in the area too?"
"No."
"Oh. Do you still see them often?"
She paused for a long moment. "Not really."
"So you're not very close?" It seemed kind of out of character for what I was building in my mind for her. She and Emmett seemed even closer than Alice and I were. And my sister was my best friend, as lame as that sounded. Did they have to leave them behind?
"I was close with my dad, but he died when I was seventeen. My mom died giving birth to me, so I never met her. It's just me, Emmett and Rose."
"Oh, I'm sorry." I didn't know what else to say. I couldn't picture growing up without my mom, or not having my dad around. Just thinking about it made me feel sick.
"Don't worry about it," she said easily, turning another page. "Are you close with your parents?"
"Very, although I wasn't for a while. I'm glad I changed that."
She sighed, putting down her book and pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.
"What's wrong? I'm sorry if I-"
"No, it's not you. I'm sorry, this is just really fucking weird. I feel guilty and weird asking these questions, because I already know so much about you."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, first I'll mention the obvious. You're a fucking movie star, billions of people know tons of shit about you. But the night after you came to the club and were being a fucking weirdo I did a background check on you to make sure you weren't dangerous. It's a habit of mine, but I won't say it's a bad one because I'm used to my intuition being pretty spot on, and it's helped me out a lot before."
"And what did you learn about me?" I asked curiously. I was surprised that I wasn't really upset. I was kind of flattered that she had taken the time, and pleased by the fact that she did kind of know me. Maybe.
"I know that your father is the chief of staff at his hospital, that your mother is a landscaper, I know all about your sister of course, and then your cousin is like a sister to me, so I know about more of your family. I know you lived in LA for the past five years before coming back here. Your record is completely clean. You're apparently a fucking genius and got crazy awesome grades in school, especially in music. I didn't really dig any further than that. Alice really loves you, you know. And she seemed to really trust you, so I let it go."
"Hmm."
"Aren't you mad?"
"No, it's just a little unfair that you know so much more about me than I do about you," I said teasingly. She smirked. "I think we need to even the playing field a little bit."
"And how would you like to do that?" She asked indulgently.
"Answer some more of my questions."
She looked at me again, a playful smile toying on her lips. "I'm not making any promises, but you can try me."
Oh, there are so many things I'd like to try with you.
"What's your favourite food?"
"Pasta. I love spicy food too. Mexican. I love pizza," she said, lying back in the grass and folding her arms behind her head. I copied her movements, but watched her while she watched the sky.
"Favourite TV show?"
"Hmm... I don't really watch much TV, but I got Netflix a little while ago and am hooked on the Walking Dead."
"Why don't you watch TV?"
"No time, I keep pretty busy. And I guess you could say that I'm a little… impatient? Commercials annoy the shit out of me, that and only getting little pieces of a story at a time. I prefer to read."
"Do you have a favourite movie?"
"I'll skip that one."
"How do you know Marcus Volturi?"
"Skip."
"How long have you had Zeus?"
"Almost four years."
"How many boyfriends have you had?"
She was silent for a long minute. "Skip."
"Oh, come on. Please?"
"No."
"Okay okay, your favourite dessert?"
"Anything with chocolate in it."
"Colour?"
"Purple."
"Seriously?"
"What's wrong with that?" She snapped. Touchy.
"Nothing, I was just expecting you to say black."
"Black is a shade, not a color," she said, rolling her eyes. I grinned. Her phone rang, and she looked at her screen and sighed before answering it. Fuck, how many phones did she have? This looked like a new android. "Hey Hun." She scowled. "Why? What are you making me do?" She spat. "Ugh! I thought you loved me, why are you doing this to me?" She dropped back onto the grass, her eyes closed with an almost pained look on her face. "Yeah, I know." Pause. "Fine! Don't even try to fucking guilt trip me though, I know you're fully aware of what you're doing." Pause. "Sure. Give me an hour or two, I gotta go home and have a shower first." She hung up without saying goodbye.
"Who was that?"
"Rose," she sighed. "Apparently I'm being kidnapped for the day. I need to get home."
"Oh, okay. You working tonight? I was thinking about swinging by."
She was quiet for a minute. "I might be around there for a little while, not quite sure at the moment really."
So there was a chance she wouldn't be?
I'll go anyways, a chance is a chance no matter how small it is.
"Cool, hopefully I see you," I told her with a smile. She stood up, and Zeus jumped to his feet. She clipped a leash onto his collar and picked up her basket.
"Okay. Well, bye."
"Bye."
She walked away without another glance, and I watched as she unlocked her bike, tied the leash to one of the handle bars and took off. I dropped back down in the grass, smiling up at the bright sunlight with my eyes closed.
Best fucking Friday the thirteenth ever so far.
. . . . . . . . . .
"Wear this tonight," Alice said, handing me a zipped garment bag.
"Oh hi Alice, it's nice to see you, please come in," I said teasingly.
"Oh shut up and get changed so we can leave," she said, pulling Jasper down on the couch with her. I took the bag over to my room, and put on the pair of charcoal pants, the white dress shirt and the black vest with the leather jacket that was hanging inside. I had to admit, I looked pretty fucking good.
Alice fixed my shirt when I came back in, unbuttoning another button on the neck so you could see my black undershirt, and told me to leave the cuffs undone.
"You seem especially dedicated to your passion tonight Alice, what's up?"
"Tonight's special."
"Why?"
"It just is. Let's go!" She spun around and dashed over to the door. Jasper and I both laughed, then followed after her. She bounced in her seat the entire drive, but I didn't bother to pry for info. If she didn't want to tell me, then she wouldn't.
Besides, I felt just as excited as she looked. I wasn't going to let her work tonight, I would stand in that corner with her asking her questions all night to talk to her if I had to.
My heart sank when we walked in and I looked to the corner, and she wasn't there. I scanned the room while walking over to our booth, and slid in beside one of Rosalie's random friends. She had said she only might be here tonight though. Damn.
"Hello to you too Edward," Rose said sarcastically.
"Hey Rose," I said with a bit of a sigh, looking over at her after giving up. "Where's-"
I froze when I looked at the woman between Rose and I. She was wearing a shimmering black dress with long sleeves that hugged her body perfectly down to her small waist, with dark brown leather boots that went halfway up her calves. Her thick mahogany hair was flowing down to her waist in thick, shiny waves.
And she looked fucking pissed.
"Take a picture, it lasts longer," she spat, tossing back the rest of her glass of wine. It was replaced by a new one immediately.
"Uhh-"
She glared at me, and I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing.
She smacked me in the back of the head, really hard, before sliding up on the table, swinging her legs over me, and storming across the room.
The sight of her, sitting on a table on top of me, froze my laughter. I almost grabbed onto her knees to pull her around me. I didn't, but it gave me the chance to realize that she was truly fucking livid.
Fuck fuck fuck. Way to go jackass.
I ran after her and caught up to her quickly, jumping in front of her instead of grabbing onto her. She stopped, and crossed her arms over her chest angrily. I couldn't stop my eyes from trailing over her, committing the image of perfection in front of me to memory. Fuck, she had some awesome legs, I'd never gotten the chance to really see them before, but holy shit.
"You look fucking gorgeous," I told her honestly.
"Fuck you Hollywood."
"I'm serious. I only laughed because of your expression. You're too fucking beautiful to not be smiling, the scowl was just too much for me to handle. I'm sorry."
She watched me suspiciously for another long minute, then sighed. "Laugh at me again, and I'll break your nose," she hissed, then spun to march back to the table.
I followed her like a magnet.
She was stopped before we got to the table by Emmett, who scooped her up into his arms with a booming laugh.
"What the fuck did Rose do to you!" He laughed, hugging her tightly.
"Fuck off and put me down Emmett!"
"What? Can't fight me in a dress and heels princess?"
She punched him in the face, and when he dropped her she landed gracefully on her feet in a crouch before straightening up.
Fuck, that was hot.
"Okay, I guess I deserved that," Emmett laughed, rubbing his face.
"Fucking right."
"Oh well, Happy Birthday!" He hugged her again, and she wrestled to get out of his grip.
"Shhh! Fuck off Emmett!"
He laughed and let her go. She quickly slid into the seat next to me, reaching over and grabbing her glass of wine before knocking half of it back.
"It's your Birthday?" I asked in disbelief. She nodded. "Uhm, may I ask how old you are today?"
She was quiet for a minute. "Twenty-one."
"Seriously?" My voice came back out as more of a shout.
"Yeah seriously, do you have a problem with that?"
"Not at all, you just seem a lot older."
"Well, as least I don't look as old as you, old man."
"I'm not old, I'm twenty-seven," I argued.
"Well, you seem a lot older," she teased, and I couldn't help laughing. I took another good look at her, and realized my words didn't really ring true. She did look young, and it only took me a moment to figure out why I thought she seemed older.
It was her eyes. They looked like they held too much knowledge for that short amount of time.
Emmett sat down heavily at the table and I looked up at him in surprise before shifting away from Bella a little. He grinned.
"What are you doing here Cullen?"
"What do you mean?"
"You were banned."
My face paled. "Uhh… B lifted the ban like two weeks ago."
"Then why haven't you been at the gym?" He asked, his frown shifting into an immediate grin.
Prick. He knew. He's fucking with me, and loving it.
"You should come back soon, it was nice having you around."
"Oh, uh, okay." He laughed at my fumbling, and I relaxed slightly before looking back at Bella. She was scanning the room, swirling the wine in her glass. "Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?"
"Because it was going well while I was trying to ignore it," she said, crossing her legs and finishing her drink. My eyes flickered down to the smooth, pale skin of her legs, and I caught the edge of what looked like a light purple star on the side of her thigh just above her knee.
"You have a tattoo," I blurted out in surprise. She was quiet, and I looked up at her face to find her giving me a calculating look with an amused smile. I felt my face flush red under her gaze.
Stop being such a fucking girl.
"Yes, I do," she said, still looking for something in my face.
"Can I see?"
She leaned in close to me, the smell of strawberries and white wine blocking out everything else. "I don't think that would be very appropriate," she purred.
"Why do you say that?" My pulse was pounding in my ears in excitement from her proximity. I couldn't stop staring at her lips. I followed her hand down to her leg when she slowly trailed her fingers up her thigh.
"Because it goes up, and up, and up, and if my brother saw me taking off this dress for you in the middle of a club you'd be dead within seconds," she whispered in a low voice, her words slightly slurring at the end.
"Then show me somewhere else," I breathed, leaning back into her.
"Well, you would like that, wouldn't you?" She purred, sitting back up and fucking giggling. A new glass of wine was placed in her hand, and she took a sip without even looking at it.
I couldn't move, my hardness was trying to drill a hole through the bottom of the table in front of me. And by the glint in her eyes, she fucking knew it too.
She winked at me again, and I felt myself growl slightly.
Then it clicked in. Bella was pretty tanked right now. It was her twenty-first birthday, of course she was smashed. I don't even remember the week of my twenty-first birthday.
Normally, that would have made me a little excited, but it didn't. I was worried, she was vulnerable right now, and that idea sickened me.
No, I wouldn't take advantage of her. Of course I wouldn't.
But I was going to sit here and enjoy this rare fucking form of my goddess.
Well, maybe there were a few things I could take advantage of… she seemed like she was in a talkative mood, or at least hoping to be distracted from her… situation at the moment.
"No, I wouldn't mind that in the slightest," I said back in a low voice. She grinned again. "Can you tell me what it is though? My own imagination is driving me insane."
"It's the Scorpius constellation."
"You're a Scorpio?"
"Nope."
"Then why do you have the Scorpius constellation?"
She took another sip of her drink. "Do you know the story of Orion and the scorpion?" I shook my head. "One of the myths is that Orion was this really full-of-himself asshole hunter, thought he was invincible. He boasted to the goddess Artemis that he would kill every animal on the earth. Artemis was a hunter herself, but she respected and offered protection to all creatures. So, naturally, she was pissed the fuck off. So, she sent a scorpion to deal with him. The scorpion killed Orion, and caught the attention of Zeus, who then later raised him to the heavens where he's now immortalized in the stars."
I felt like I was watching the fucking discovery channel, and just started at her, engrossed. She smiled when I didn't say anything.
"It's a symbol. Even the greatest and strongest of hunters is not invincible. Anyone can be killed, and by something as small as the prick of a stinger. The scorpion didn't battle for fame or recognition, he killed for the protection of others. I respect that."
It was hard to push away my thoughts and concentrate on her for a moment. I hated that word; Hunter. Every time I heard the word I thought about my first movie, and that fucking psychopath it had been based off of. No one had died in years now though, and I forced myself back to the much brighter thoughts of the gorgeous woman next to me.
"Isn't Orion in the stars too though? It's like, the only constellation I know besides the big dipper," I told her with a grin. She laughed.
"Yes, but that is Artemis' doing as well. Zeus raised him to the starts at her request to serve as a reminder to mortals to curb their excessive pride."
"That's fucking cool. They should make a movie about that," I speculated.
"There are lots of books about it," she pointed out. I grinned.
"Do you have any other tattoos?"
"Hmm," she sat back, and took another sip of her wine. "Where would be the fun in just telling you that? I think it's much more entertaining letting you speculate." I groaned, and she patted me on the shoulder. "Now move over Sherlock, I need to get out."
"Why? Where are you going?"
She laughed. "I need to pee, now get out of my way."
I laughed, and slid out of the booth before offering my hand to help her out.
She didn't even see it. She stood up, swaying the tiniest bit, and then made her way across the room.
I couldn't help staring at her ass swaying back and forth as she walked in those fucking boots. Fuck. I sat back down with a huff.
When I looked up, my face paled. We hadn't been alone, I hadn't even noticed that Rose, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper were all sitting at our table, fucking staring at me. Alice was grinning, and Emmett looked fucking pissed. I couldn't help it; I smiled.
"I'm not going to apologize Emmett. She's the most amazing woman I've ever met, and I'm not going to let her go."
Alice and Rose fucking awed at me.
Emmett smiled, which I wasn't expecting. "You can try all you want man, you have no damn clue what you're getting yourself into. And my rule hasn't fucking changed."
"But all I need is permission?" He nodded. "I can work with that."
We were interrupted by Jasper shooting to his feet, a murderous glare on his face as he looked across the room. We all followed his gaze.
Bella was standing in the middle of the large, crowded dance floor, trying to make her way back over to our table, but there was a giant man blocking her way. She was obviously pissed off, every time she tried to step around him he'd block her path. I couldn't hear what either of them were saying, and when I looked back to the corner where her replacement had been standing, I noticed that he was nowhere to be seen.
"Fuck, Emmett, stop her," Jasper hissed urgently. Emmett shot across the room, and I didn't have to ask what Jasper was talking about.
Bella got fed up and shoved him aside, and when she pushed past him I sprang to my feet when he slapped her ass.
Even tanked, apparently she didn't any help. She spun on her heal, and her arm shot out in a blur as she got him good in the jaw. Emmett was there in the same second, whispering something to her as he held her back, and then pushed her in the direction of our table. She glared at them for a moment before marching back over to our table. She dropped back down in the seat next to Alice, much to my disappointment.
"You okay?" She asked her. Bella rolled her eyes, and I handed her drink when she reached for it.
"Of course, I just can't fucking stand it when people touch me. I should have broken his fucking hand," she hissed.
Alice grinned, reaching forward and poking her slowly, raising an eyebrow. Bella's face relaxed as she laughed. "You know it's different with you Alice," she said, rolling her eyes. She changed the subject quickly. "So! Three fucking weeks Rose! Are you excited?"
Emmett came and sat down beside me, grinning at the empty spot. I looked back out to the dance floor, but the man was gone.
"Of course," she said, rolling her eyes. She was trying to hide her smile. "Did you finish with the guest list?"
"Yeah, they're all checked out. I've got the security set too, not a single camera or phone is going to get in there except for Leah's."
"So we can really do this? You can come and say you're Emmett's sister and everything?" She whispered. I looked over at Jasper worriedly, did he know all of this already? He caught my look and scowled at me.
"I've known B longer than Rose has, she's always safe around me," he said seriously, looking offended.
"Sorry," I mumbled.
"Whatever."
"Why haven't you sent out invitations?" I asked curiously.
"Because things get lost in the mail, and Emmett tries to stop our last name from being thrown around too much," Bella said.
"And everything for the roof is good?"
"Oh yeah, it's going to look beautiful Rose, don't worry for a second."
"So I'll get the list from you tomorrow and start doing confirmations for the head count," Rose said, bouncing a little excitedly.
"Sure. I'll be home all day."
"Roof?"
"B was able to procure a roof-top terrace for the wedding," Emmett said proudly, grinning at his little sister. She smiled back, then shifted to take her vibrating phone out of her little black purse. Her face blanched.
"Excuse me," she said, jumping to her feet quickly, though unsteadily, and running out of the room through the door behind the bar. Emmett grabbed her purse off of the table and was after her in the same second.
The four of us looked at each other questioningly, then waited quietly for them to come back.
They didn't. Rose got a text message from Emmett five minutes later saying that he was taking Bella home.
"What's going on?" I asked, almost hyperventilating. Something happened to her, who the fuck called her? What did they say? Her words from two weeks ago, her threat to just disappear, echoed hauntingly through my mind.
She watched me sadly for a long moment. "I'm sorry Edward, it's not something I can talk about."
"Is she okay though?"
She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, looking a little lost in her own mind. She didn't answer me.
I couldn't sit here like this for another second, I was going to snap or have a panic attack or some shit. I said goodbye to the others, and texted Riley to send a car early as I left. I'm not sure why I went out through the alley, I didn't even realize what I was doing until I stepped outside.
"B! You need to calm down. Breathe, this isn't your fucking fault!"
"How can you say that it's not my fault Emmett? She's fucking dead! And he's still out there!"
"I know sweetie, but-"
"Don't hug me Emmett, I don't want to be fucking coddled right now," she said, pushing away from him and pacing, her hands running through her hair in frustration. The light was dim, but sparkled on her cheeks.
She was fucking crying.
"I need to find him Emmett, he's not going to stop. He needs to die," her voice was almost hysterical.
"Hey, you can't put this on you. It's not your fault you lived. You've been looking for him for seven years, I know you have, you've made more effort in his case than every other cop in the fucking country combined. You need to stop putting this on yourself. You know dad would say that too, you know I'm right."
"But I- I-…" A violent sob shook through her body, and Emmett caught her in his arms before she hit the ground. She clutched onto him tightly, sobbing against his shirt while he held onto her, smoothing her hair.
"I know. I know. Everything is going to be okay."
I didn't know what to do, they hadn't noticed me, but as soon as I let go of the door to either stay out or go back in, they would know someone was out here. My knee popped when I shifted on the spot, and Bella's head snapped up, meeting my eyes.
She looked… terrified.
Emmett followed her gaze, and sighed when he saw me.
"Why the fuck am I not surprised? How long have you been there?"
"About three minutes. I didn't know what to do," I told them honestly. Bella was turned away from me, wiping at her face. I couldn't stop myself from walking over to her. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, but wouldn't look at me.
"Is there anything I can do?"
"No, but thanks." She whispered. The sound of pain in her voice completely broke my heart. I wanted to pull her into my arms and hold her, and tell her it was going to be okay.
"What are you doing out here?" Emmett asked.
"I was just heading home. Do you want a ride B?"
She froze, and her eyes went wide, a little delirious even as she moved closer to Emmett. He wrapped an arm around her protectively. "Thanks Edward, but I can't risk any pictures being taken of her like this. The cameras would be all over the two of you if you got into a cab together."
"Oh, okay." I shifted uncomfortably, not knowing what to do. I didn't want to leave her.
I never wanted to leave her, ever.
A car honked at the end of the alley, and Emmett turned around to face it before waving.
"Well, er, we have to go," Emmett said awkwardly, looking between the two of us. Bella turned and started walking away towards the car without looking at me.
"Later, Hollywood," she said in an emotionless voice. Emmett ran to catch up with her.
"Goodnight, Bella," I said quietly to the night as they disappeared into the car and drove off.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Hmm… what do you think that phone call was about?
And what's your favourite constellation? Can you see the stars from where you live?