A/N: Anything you recognize is not mine. Here's chapter 30. It features... a mixture of feelings. Warning: some physical violence/threatening language.

Enjoy.

XXX.

we don't stick together 'cause we put our love first

The rental beach house that Edward shared with his brother and friends was more of a mansion. Easily the biggest house any of them had been in—even bigger than Kim's. Edward lived a life of opulence no matter where he went; Bella was used to it, but it took the other girls some adjustment over a couple of days.

Emily and Leah were watching Kim and a few other guys around their age play pool as they relaxed on a large patio underneath an umbrella. Sipping beer and enjoying the view of the beach, things should have been perfect. They were supposed to be. They had gotten away with their crimes mostly unscathed. They were living a life of luxury in a house way nicer than the motel they had been in. They had been saved, but something wasn't right.

"What are you thinking about?" Emily asked Leah.

"Honestly," Leah began, "I'm just thinking about how much I hate white boys."

Emily smiled. "Yeah, they're corny, aren't they?"

"Never cornier. They love themselves some Kim, though." She nodded over in Kim's direction, and all the boys were just flocking over her. It was like high school all over again. Maybe that was why Leah was so annoyed now.

"That's funny."

"I know," Leah agreed. "I wonder if they know how much she probably craves pussy."

"You don't know that for sure. Isn't she still with Jared?"

"Technically. I mean, it's long-distance, but I guess I don't really know much. They've broken up and made up too many times to count."

"At least she seems to be having fun again. She was really freaking out back in that jail cell."

Leah rolled her eyes. "Don't remind me. She is too fragile."

"I think she's tough. She's gotta be."

"I guess so."

Bella was physically somewhere on the third floor of the mansion with Edward, but she was mentally up in the clouds. It hadn't taken them that long to get high off weed and each other's bodies. And they hadn't done much yet, but he was practically begging her. She laid on her back, halfway off the bed, and he kneeled between her open thighs.

"C'mon, baby," he said, kissing her on the neck. "Give me something."

She giggled. "There are too many people in the house."

"Fuck 'em. I can kick them all out."

"I know you can."

He ran his hands down her bare torso, trying to get into her shorts. She placed her hands over his and looked him in the eyes. "Not now."

Ignoring her, he started to kiss her again, and then there was a knock on the door. Someone was calling for Edward. Bella started to untangle herself from him, but he tried to get her to stay, holding her down.

"I really gotta go," she whispered. Then she got up and picked up her tank top from the floor. She hastily pulled the top on, ignoring the concept of a bra, and tossed her disheveled hair.

"So you're just gonna be like that?" he asked, staring up at her.

"I didn't say no. I said not now."

She pulled the door open and left the bedroom, but not without looking over her shoulder to smile suggestively at him.

Bella went downstairs to the patio, looking for Kim, and quickly found her. She was no longer playing pool with the guys; she was talking with one of them instead.

"Excuse me," Bella said, politely interrupting the conversation. She looked to Kim. "Can you talk for a minute."

"I'll be right back," Kim said to the guy as Bella pulled her away, locking fingers with her.

Bella playfully pulled Kim to the front door of the house. Before they could leave, Kim stopped. "Where are we going?" she asked.

Bella smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. "Don't worry about it."

They ended up sight-seeing at the boardwalk. Bella had realized that between the music festival and the parties and the arrest, they had never really gotten to experience a lot of Venice Beach's trademark.

"You said you wanted to see it all," Bella reminded Kim, "so we should see it all."

Holding hands the entire time, the girls saw everything and then some. The sky was dark and the neon lights shone brightly when they ended up at a tattoo shop. It was Kim's idea.

Bella was still trying to pick out what kind of tattoo she wanted as Kim had already started to get hers. It wasn't anything too crazy (like the angel wings on her back, for example); it was an outline of a diamond, right on the inside of her left wrist.

As Kim prepared for and started the tattoo process, the artist used almost all of his effort to flirt with her. He ended up trying to guess her ethnicity, and Kim started to wonder where the hell Bella was to save her.

"You from around here?" the tattoo artist asked. He was white-passing, but he had a strong Spanish accent.

"The coast, yeah."

"So you're Mexican."

"Mm-mm."

"Puerto Rican?"

"Nope."

"Brazilian, then."

"What makes you think that?"

"You got that nice, wavy hair."

"Funny. Try again."

"This might be a wild guess," he began, "but are you mixed?"

"Mixed with that?"

"White mama, black father."

"I'm not mixed, then."

"Just what I thought. Are you Filipino, then? 'Cause I used to date a girl who was half-Filipino, half-white. She kinda looked like you."

"I'm not that, either."

"Polynesian?"

"Not even close."

"You are definitely Italian, then."

"Try again." This was some of the most fun Kim had ever had in her life.

"Mediterranean. I'm thinking Greek with that complexion you've got going on."

"No."

"Damn. Well, you're just about done here. You took the pain pretty well. Is this your first tattoo?"

"No," she replied, "but—"

"Okay," Bella said, walking over to Kim and her tattoo artist, "so I still haven't decided yet—oh." She stopped dead in her tracks. "You're done."

The artist was putting plastic over the tattoo now. Kim nodded at Bella. "Yeah, pretty much."

"What'd you get?"

"A cute little diamond outline."

"Can I get the same thing?" Bella asked the artist.

"You can get whatever you'd like," he said smoothly.

Bella and Kim looked at each other and giggled.

When he finished with Kim, she got up and Bella took her place in the chair. As he began the procedure, he said, "Did you know I can guess a lady's zodiac sign just by looking at her?"

"Oh, really, now?"

"Yeah."

"What do you see in me?" she asked.

"I'd say you're an earth sign."

"You're right. Go on."

"You're a Capricorn, for sure."

Bella laughed. "I'm a Virgo."

"They're not that far apart," he said. "That was my second guess."

Within a matter of time, Bella and Kim left the shop matching tattoos on their left wrists. They returned to the boardwalk even giddier as they had arrived, smiling at each other as if they had a secret. It wasn't very secretive, but it was theirs.

Upon Bella and Kim's return to the house, Leah and Emily pounced on Kim. It shouldn't have been a huge deal, but somehow, it was.

"God, we were so worried about you," Leah told Kim.

"Well, I'm okay now, Mom," Kim said sharply. "So get off my back."

Leah backed off. "Fine, then," she said. "It's whatever."

Kim nodded, clearly annoyed, and returned to playing pool with the boys.

In another room, Edward pounced on Bella, and it made her wish she had never returned to the house. She let him freak out about leaving for hours like that, though, because she was positive that if she fought back, he would pull the bail card out on her. It was like he had set all this up to control her again.

So she stayed quiet and high, sitting on his lap as he smoked weed with some corny white boys. She crossed her legs and slightly turned to him, playing in his hair with her fingers. He ignored her for now, and they were just like they used to be, but somehow worse.

Kim eventually got tired of playing pool and tried to find Bella. She hadn't gotten far when she walked past the smoky room and caught a glance of Bella and Edward making out. Bella was nearly naked. Kim knew she shouldn't get upset, but the feeling was sinking way, way down into her stomach. She also knew she shouldn't have looked, but she couldn't look away. What did Bella see in him? Why did he continue to matter to her when he had hurt her so many times before?

Leah and Emily entertained themselves in the kitchen with a pack of playing cards and more beer, just like the old days, except with alcohol. Kim found them and pulled up a chair at the edge of the table. Where they were was one of the peaceful parts of the house that didn't include people having sex. The real party was downstairs where Bella and Edward were. The girls could feel the bass from under them.

"Hey, girlie," Emily greeted Kim as if she hadn't bitched her and Leah out forty-five minutes ago.

"Where'd you get the beer?" Kim asked immediately.

"Fridge."

Kim got a cold bottle of Budweiser and sat down at the table again. Leah didn't ask why Kim finally decided to join her real friends. Leah didn't say anything at all because she didn't have to.

After taking a long chug, Kim sighed. "I'm done," she announced. "Done with this trip, done with Bella, done with everything."

"Got any threes?" Emily asked Leah.

"Go fish."

"You suck."

"I said I'm done," Kim reiterated.

"Aren't we all," Leah said.

"I mean, Bella's downstairs basically having sex with her annoying boyfriend, the music sucks, and all the guys here think they can say the 'N' word."

"And it's taken you this long to figure it all out?" Leah asked, avoiding eye contact.

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"You weren't around to hear any of it."

Kim bit the inside of her cheek. "We should leave," she suggested.

Leah still refused to look at her. "That's bold of you," she said bleakly.

"I mean it. We've got money to get back," Kim elaborated. "Or we will since it won't be that hard to find. Earlier when I was trying to find the bathroom, I found a bedroom full of guns and cash instead. Straight up."

"Then go get Bella," Leah said. "I'll get the money."

"Bella doesn't want to talk to me," Kim admitted. "She's too busy getting fingered by a guy who probably has Cheeto powder under his nails."

Leah put her cards down and looked up at Kim. "That's gross. Go get the money."

Emily set her cards down. "Are we for real about to leave?" she asked Leah.

"I'm tired," Leah replied. "I think it's about damn time to go home."

Leah went downstairs to the smoke-filled room, where Bella was doing some wasted white girl subset of dancing that involved being half-naked and bent over. It looked more like clothed intercourse, but Leah, having a different priority, wasn't going to say anything regarding that.

"Let's go, Bella," she said over the music.

Bella continued dancing, Edward was having a ball, and Leah had no time for whatever the fuck this was.

"Girl, come on," Leah said, her voice even louder as she pulled Bella by the arm. "We need to go."

The drunk girl stood up straight and shoved Leah away. "Chill the fuck out!" she yelled.

Leah tried to remain patient. "We're going home right now."

Bella pushed Leah again. "Fuck off."

"Touch me again," Leah warned. "I fucking dare you."

"What, are you gonna hit me?" Bella challenged. "C'mon."

Leah pursed her lips and shook her head. "Don't even try it, bitch."

"So you're gonna call me a bitch, right?" Bella shouted, getting closer to Leah. "But you won't hit me? C'mon, Lee, I'm begging you to hit me."

"And if I hit you, then what? You're gonna go crying to the guy whose dick you've had in your mouth the entire time we've been here?"

"Hit me, Leah. Please hit me. Show me how much of a big, bad savage you are."

Leah swung so fast that her fist would have shattered Bella's jaw, but she was pulled back at the waist by some guy before the impact could be made. Bella was pulled back in the other direction. Both girls tried to get to each other, and the room was a lot louder all of a sudden.

"I fucking hate you, Bella," Leah yelled. "You've gotten the rest of us into so much shit just to get here."

"I'm the reason why any of us even made it here," Bella screamed. "Don't you fucking forget it."

"You're the reason why we got arrested."

"Oh, please!"

"I just hope you know the rest of us are leaving your sorry ass."

"Then leave." Bella waved her hand in Leah's direction. "Good fucking riddance."

Leah pulled herself out of the stranger's grip. Clenching her jaw, she left the room, but now without saying one last thing.

"You know what, Bella? Fuck you."

A/N: I'll update Wednesday. (Also, I know people are reading this story - where the reviews at tho). And happy 10th birthday, Twilight! I'm getting a little emotional, don't mind me. If any of you read that reimagined book that Stephenie Meyer put out, let me know if it's good.

Thanks as always,

HS