Bella snagged the check from the server when it came, surprising everyone as she insisted on paying for dinner.
As her credit card got carried away, Angela said, "Thank you, Bella, but you didn't have to do that."
"I know, but I wanted to. I haven't seen all of you in ten years. And, if you're wondering, yes, I can afford it. I promise." Consider it as Edward's contribution to the reunion.
Angela beamed over at Quil, looking genuinely relieved, almost grateful. Bella couldn't help but contemplate their finances with a second child coming and Quil's arm loss. It made her turn toward Mike and smile, wondering if he employed Quil and Embry for Angela's sake since they had been friends since childhood or if he'd befriended them on his own.
Mike caught her grinning at him as everyone prepared to leave. "Something on your mind, Florida?"
Bella laughed. "I think I liked Arizona better."
"Well, yeah," Mike teased, as if that should be obvious.
Impulsively, Bella said, "I'm gonna stick around and have another drink. Wanna join me?"
He beamed. "Well, yes, I do."
As the others left, Jessica and Erik threatened her not to bail on the reunion just because she'd already seen them. They laughed as she gaped at them, instantly feeling called out.
"I told you," Jessica teased, poking Erik in the side.
Bella shook her head. "I must not have changed that much to be so predictable."
Again, they laughed. As they walked past, Jessica slapped her butt. "Shoulda saved that dress for the reunion, Swan ."
Mike tried desperately not to laugh as Bella's face nearly matched her dress. She chuckled as he held his arm out for her and escorted her toward the bar.
They chattered more about their careers and college experiences, laughing over tales about embarrassing moments and dates gone horribly wrong. Eventually, Mike asked her to dance. He seemed surprised as she agreed. She wasn't the graceless teenager she once was, though. She was better than him, in fact.
The evening felt almost surreal. Bella would have never imagined herself having a good time in Mike's company for this long. Not in high school, at least. Without realizing it, she soon flirted back, refusing to consider anything aside from relishing the moment.
And why not? It was just what she would have done in Florida. Despite the resurfacing of some long-buried feelings for a man, she couldn't have, nothing about her life had changed.
When a more romantic song began, the floor quickly filled with couples. Mike pulled her in a little closer as Bella slid her arms around his neck, letting him lead. She was exceedingly aware of his hands sliding from her waist to the small of her back, hovering just above the swell of her ass. For the first time all evening, it seemed each had nothing to say more important than not interrupting the hint of a spark between them.
When the song finished, instead of letting go completely, Bella slid her hand down his arm and wrapped it around his to lead him back to their seats. Each grinned as they sat, finally letting go, and their conversation picked up where it left off.
I might've dated him if he'd been this easy-going in high school.
Bella was preparing to order a third glass of wine as their bartender placed two shots of clear liquor in front of them.
"House round," she said before moving to the next person and letting the second bartender take their orders.
As he walked away, both curiously reached for their shots. Bella lifted it, sniffed, and frowned. She could tell it had floral undertones, but not precisely what it was. She glanced around them through the darkened space, trying to tell who was responsible for the free spirits.
And then, she spotted him, alone in a corner booth with multiple empty shot glasses in front of him, staring directly at her. Bella's husband held her gaze as he raised a full shot toward her, as if in cheers and waited. She scoffed in disbelief, suspecting precisely what waited in her shot glass. When she continued staring back without returning his gesture, he laughed, knocked his shot back, and turned his attention elsewhere.
Bella hadn't realized Mike had followed her gaze until he picked up his shot and teasingly tapped it with hers. Bella looked down into hers suspiciously, wondering why her husband was still there. What message was he attempting to send her with this, exactly?
She sighed. "I can only drink one of these. Tequila gets me in trouble."
Mike followed her as she muttered, "Fuck it," and took her shot. Each hissed a little from the burn and laughed.
"So," Mike teased, gesturing toward her husband with a nod. "Is he aware Tequila gets you into trouble?"
Bella chuckled bitterly and nodded. "Uh…yeah. You could say that."
"Oof." Mike winced slightly. "Open mouth, insert foot for me, I guess." When she laughed and reached for her wine, he asked, "So, is there an awkward story there, or..?"
Bella shook her head. "We barely know each other. More through prior mutual friends than anything. He just got to witness me extremely intoxicated on the stuff once."
It wasn't a lie. Time spent near each other over a few months and one very passionate weekend were the closest they'd gotten. Hell. She hadn't known her last name during the first month of 'marriage,' having to send off for a copy of their marriage license to confirm it. Luckily, she'd signed Swan on the marriage license, and her name remained unchanged.
Despite those things, she felt incredibly dishonest when she'd mainly returned home to divorce the man. She could barely wrap her mind or mouth around his first name unless she was mentally separating the boy who hated her from the man she married.
"More ancient history, I take it?"
Bella grinned. "Essentially."
Glancing back toward his table, she realized he was gone again and sighed in relief when Mike changed the topic of conversation. It didn't take long for the flirting to resume, and Bella sipped her wine as she tried to push her husband out of her mind.
It was nearly midnight when Mike announced he needed to get home. He had to be up for work in the morning. Bella hugged him goodnight, thanked him for the fun evening, and even smiled as he boldly leaned in to kiss her cheek.
Mike hesitated just slightly before asking, "Would you like to hang out again before you head back to Florida? Maybe go on an actual date?"
An actual date… with Mike Fucking Newton. She had to admit she'd been enjoying herself and the newfound chemistry had over the last couple of hours. Hell. Why not? It seemed to have become her mantra for the day.
"I'll be here for another week. Maybe we can talk about it more at the reunion on Saturday?"
He grinned brilliantly, reminding her of the boy she'd known in high school for the first time all evening, and she couldn't help but smile back.
"Awesome. I guess I'll see you then. Save a dance for me on Saturday?"
"Save me two." She winked.
Mike nearly tripped over himself as he turned around and walked away, leaving her chuckling into the rest of her fourth glass of wine. She set the empty glass down and flagged the bartender to sign her tab.
Bella made a quick bathroom break to pee and let her hair down. She wet her hands with cold water and rubbed them into her scalp to sober herself a little, an accidental trick she'd learned in college that helped her safely walk home from too many bars. She left her hair hanging in a damp, wavy mess, relieved to take the pressure off her scalp after having it up for hours.
While contemplating stopping at a gas station for snacks, she left through a side exit and rounded the corner of the building. Bella hesitated as she spotted three large young men loitering near the opposite corner, laughing amongst themselves.
That they were Quileute was no question. Their size and body mass alone suggested they were likely part of the Pack, or well on their way to it. Noticing her pause upon seeing them, they looked up at her unanimously before grinning at each other lasciviously.
Ah, yes. Men and their odd fascination with attractive yet nerdy women.
Bella rolled her eyes and continued walking, intending to ignore them as she passed. She was sure they would be surprised to recognize her at the bonfire, and the thought made her fight back a laugh.
As she neared them, one stepped to the left and leaned against the building as the other two separated to let her pass between them. The leaning boy was taller and thinner than the others. He reminded her a little of Embry as they made eye contact and gave her a shy, amused smile.
The shortest boy to her right blatantly scanned her figure and smirked as his eyes lingered on her cleavage a little too long. The third raised an eyebrow as she met his squinting dark gaze, and the corner of his mouth perked up in a familiar, cocky grin.
Oh, this little shit is a Uley, for sure. "Excuse me," she said as he stepped closer.
His deep voice was eerily like Sam's, only confirming her suspicion. "Hey there, beautiful. Where did you come from?"
Bella laughed. She couldn't help it. "You know? I just… plopped right out of the sky. Poof."
She shook her head as she went to step around him, and he side-stepped into her direct path to stop her. Warmth seemed to radiate between the three of them, surrounding her in a sensation both uncomfortable and hauntingly familiar. Again, she was instantly nervous but reminded herself they could probably sense her reactions.
On her right, the shortest one said, "I bet you did, sweetheart. Where are you taking off to?"
Up close, each looked in their mid-late twenties, and she suspected they were closer to eighteen. "Home. You should, too, boys. Isn't it past your bedtime?" She glared directly into the eyes of the boy in front of her despite his intimidating size.
Behind her, a too-familiar deep voice growled, "Yeah, Devon. Isn't it time for you guys to go home? Or do I need to call Seth about you hanging around the bar trying to prey on drunk chicks again?"
Bella turned toward her husband's voice as he slowly approached them. She recalled Leah mentioning Devon Uley, a distant cousin of Sam's, two days before but remembered little else.
She saw the others nod at her husband in greeting as he came to stand beside her. As she finally turned her attention to Devon, he glared back at them furiously.
"Why do you care? I'm pretty sure you did the same shit at my age."
"I did. And it got me nothing but trouble, just like it'll get you nothing but trouble. Now, go home."
She tried not to react. It wasn't as if he had intentionally insulted her with the truthful statement. They'd eloped while drunk in Vegas and then didn't speak for seven years. Atop their prior history, what had she been for him if nothing but trouble?
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and waved it at them. "I'm serious about calling Seth. I'll call Jake if I have to."
Bella took a sharp breath at the threat as his warm hand suddenly palmed her lower back.
Devon scoffed as he glanced toward Bella. "And what's Jacob gonna do?"
Right. Jacob wasn't Alpha anymore. He'd given that title to Seth. Bella was unsure if he stopped phasing since no one provided that slight detail, and she still hadn't seen him.
The blending of the feverish hand on her back, the remaining buzz of alcohol, and the sudden prospect of facing Jacob again… It might not affect this Devon character much, but it made her tremble with anxiety.
As if by instinct, her husband slowly stroked her back to soothe her discomfort. Bella had to fight against the urge to lean into his side as she tried to reel her emotions in with a deep, calming breath.
Glancing between them, the leaning boy cocked his head at her curiously. "You okay, lady?"
Bella turned toward her husband, whose deep brown eyes met hers as he sighed. Nope. Not okay. Totally not okay. She squeezed her eyes shut, and her teeth dug into her bottom lip as she hesitated to answer.
Finally breaking the silence as she opened her eyes, her husband said, "Boys… meet Bella Swan."
When Bella looked back toward them, she blanched at the equally surprised expressions they wore. The shortest one practically yelled, "Bella Swan? Thee fucking Bella Swan?"
Her cheeks burned as her husband laughed and gently patted her back. Why was he even defending her, suddenly behaving like they were old friends? He could barely glance her way at dinner and tensed every time she spoke.
Annoyed and beginning to feel very overwhelmed by it all, she huffed. "I guess my reputation precedes me."
Devon scowled. "Yeah. You could say that. I'm surprised to see you here together. Last I heard, you two weren't each other's biggest fans."
She glared at Devon suspiciously. How much, exactly, did the current pack know? How much of their anger at her had bled into the younger boys, poisoning them against her without ever having to meet them? Was her torrid love triangle now part of their bonfire legends, spoken for every Tom, Dick, and Charlie to hear? That was her life, her experiences they retold like some fairytale nightmare gone horribly wrong. The damsel in distress had chosen the monster and disappeared. How many of them blindly hated her because of it?
Devon, at least, did not seem fond of Bella from ten years ago. And he wasn't wrong that her husband had never been her biggest fan. Regardless of the truth, he was getting on her last nerve, and alcohol was never her friend when combined with anger.
"Devon, is it? Shit happens, and people move on. That's life."
Sneering, he leaned toward her and lowered his voice. "Well, you certainly moved on, didn't you? Not a care in the world for the mess you left behind."
From beside her, there was a blood-chilling sound she hadn't heard in ten years. Her husband's deep, angry growl made her shudder as he leaned around her toward Devon. "You'd better watch your tone, kid. You weren't fucking there to see how shit went down back then, so shut your mouth."
Again, why the hell is he defending me? He had been there and had said far worse things to her than that.
She blinked in confusion, now bewildered, atop anger, guilt, and a roiling plethora of complex emotions. It made her feel claustrophobic, stuck between the onslaught of feelings and her husband's continued gentle yet now-shaking touch. Her emotions from the dream the morning prior were still too fresh, and the body heat surrounding her made her feel faint.
She could almost sense the growing fissure in the wall that supported her carefully built facade as her heart pounded. Needing to escape it, she instinctively looked between them for someone to let her pass.
The leaning boy grabbed Devon's arm and tugged him out of her way. "Come on, man. Let her through."
"Oh, gladly." Devon crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the wall beside his friend.
Bella asked the taller boy, "What's your name?"
He grinned. "Colin."
Colin and Brady were the current inseparable duo she knew. She did her best to smile at him, thankful that Leah had just told her about these three the other day. It honestly surprised her she remembered their names.
"And you're the cousin tied to Jake, Leah, and Seth, right?"
Wide-eyed, he said, "Yes, ma'am."
Bella wasn't sure if 'ma'am' was an improvement over 'Hey, Lady,' but she'd take it.
"Colin, I like you. Thank you for being polite. I'll tell my little brother Seth that."
Devon scowled as Colin grinned, and it almost made her laugh.
Turning to the shortest, she asked, "Are you Brady?" He nodded and grinned.
"Don't be so obvious when looking at someone's rack. It's creepy. Subtlety is a good thing."
Before Brady could respond, she pointedly glared at Devon. "You - and don't think I can't tell you're a Uley, Buddy! I'll tell Seth to watch out for you while I'm here because I'm certain I'll see you again soon. Try to remember that having one doesn't mean you have to be one, Dick."
His mouth fell open in surprise as she begrudgingly stepped out of her husband's reach and walked away to the sound of his laughter.
Suddenly, despite her previous hopes for a peaceful time at the bonfire, Thursday sounded like hell on earth.
