Chapter 20
EPOV
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as my whole body tensed, like a cat readying for a pounce. When I had walked into the diner her back had been turned to me, but something about that feral red hair seemed eerily familiar. Once she approached my booth with Bella and I finally saw her face and my body reacted swiftly as the anxiety washed through my body. Clearly Bella didn't know the significance of who she actually was. As James' cocaine-addicted girlfriend (his doing of course) being completely in love with that ass was bound to make her react hastily if she ever connected the dots—the dots being that Bella was technically the last person to have contact with him before his arrest. At the time, I hadn't worried too much or even thought about Victoria being an issue for Bella. After all, she was nineteen and out of high school. What were the chances of Bella ever meeting her? Fuck it all to Hell. Bella's luck had to be the worst I had ever seen.
"Bella, she is James' girlfriend." Recognition and anxiety flashed across my girl's eyes. She knew the issue instantly and I was glad I didn't have to spell it out for her, wasting time. Bella's face started to pale and I realized that she had stopped breathing. "Breathe, baby, breathe. It'll be OK," I calmed, as I reached across the table for her hand, gingerly holding it in my while my thumb padded soft circles of reassurance on the back of hers. When she regained color in her face, I knew that the impending anxiety attack had been averted—sort of. It was amazing how such simple words shared between us and physical contact could be so calming to one another.
"Edward, I can't do this. How the heck am I supposed to work with her now? Knowing that she associated with him is enough alone for me to want to treat her differently…Shit!" She confessed.
"But you know you can't," I paused, reaching out for a French fry with my free hand and taking a bite. "So far today you've been sweet to her, so you'll just have to keep doing that. There's something else that I should tell you, although I ought to wait until after your shift tonight to tell you this, but, oh fuck it. She's kind of a coke-head, so she'll be really spacey. She'll flash through moods quickly and intensely because her brain has hardly any control over them. It's going to be difficult to treat her the same way all the time, but I know you can do it Sugar." Her eyes rolled in incredulity.
"Oh, so now is she not only his girlfriend, but his coke-whore as well? Great. This day just keeps getting better and better. Well, that explains why she keeps sniffling. I just thought she was sick." I laughed at the near innocence of her assumption because the moment I saw Victoria, other than my tensing, I thought damn has she gotten thin. Cocaine has not been a good friend to her.
"Yeah, she's addicted to blow alright. Hmm… I wonder who her new supplier is. Her stash has got to be dwindling down after James' arrest. They confiscated all of his shit," I thought aloud.
"I don't even want to know," she huffed and waived her hands dismissively in the air. Discussing Victoria with such nonchalance was starting to cause her anxiety to pick up again, so I decided to end the subject.
"Enough of this, well talk about it later, OK? Sugar, you need to eat now." She grimaced at such a blatant dismissal of the conversation at my part. Bella grabbed the unpeeled banana off of the fruit plate and half of one of the grilled cheese sandwiches on the other plate. Dipping a corner of the sandwich in ketchup, she took a bite and made the most satisfied, orgasmic expression. Being a dirty teenage guy, it instantly reminded me of whenever she cums. Damn! Popping a boner at diner with my girlfriend, most definitely inappropriate. But fuck me, that was hot. "Enjoying it much?" Bella opened her eyes and sheepishly looked at me. A faint pink blush crept over her cheeks as she realized what she must have looked like.
"Oh god… did I make that face?" she asked, her chocolate-brown eyes wide.
"Oh yes, yes you did. And Fuck was it hot," I winked. Lightly, she kicked me under the table, pursed her lips, and squinted her eyes as if to say you're a dead man. Laughing at her felt freeing and melted all of the tension that had frozen the air between us earlier.
"Oh how embarrassing," she hissed, looking around to decided if anyone had seen. Satisfied that it had only been me, she relaxed into her seat again and took another bite of her grilled cheese. "Whatever. This is the best grilled cheese I've ever had," she said with her mouth full, ripping another piece off of her sandwich, dipping it in ketchup, and popping it in her mouth. The rest of the meal continued like that: attempts at lightheartedness in order to keep Bella's anxiety down.
***
Leaving, I kissed her and wished her luck. I told her to text or call if she needed anything and that I would gladly break the land speed record, and not to mention several traffic laws, to be there within minutes. Once at home, I sought out Alice. She always knew what to do in any situation and the one time I had chosen to act on my accord and rely on my decision making, I had made a huge oversight by forgetting that Victoria was the one loose end I had left. As I entered the family room where she and Jasper sat watching TV, Alice stood immediately with knowing eyes.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Out of the corner of mine, I saw Jasper reach up his hand, grasping hers in a calming gesture.
"Nothing," I started, but saw the cut the bullshit look on her face and amended my approach. "OK, well nothing too bad. It's just that… Victoria works at the diner with Bella." Seeing Alice's expression fall even further to match Bella's anxiety-riddled one I had seen not twenty minutes before made my own concern grow again.
"Damn it!" Jasper huffed, startling me.
"Jas!" Alice chided, surprised as well for once.
"Well it's just that Emmett and I tried so hard to make sure that there was nothing left to chance. We had no idea that Victoria worked at the diner," he explained.
"If I had known I never would have insisted that Bella work there." Once again, I felt responsible for the mess I got Bella—our friends as well—into. I was always fucking things up when all I wanted to do was make things right. I should have let Alice formulate a plan the night of Bella's birthday. At least then I wouldn't be the dipshit responsible for this fuckery. I slumped into one of the plush couches, sighing loudly. "So what the fuck do we do now?" I conceded.
"OK boys; let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Yes, Victoria could pose a problem but we won't let her. Bella will just have to play it cool—she can do that—and how thehell could Victoria know anything about what we did? She wouldn't. The only possibility would be if Victoria found out that Bella was the last person to talk to him and it would make her jealous. That's it! So, unless someone wants to continue making a big fricken deal out of nothing, I'm willing to just let this play out," she concluded. At least I had made one right decision by coming to Alice for advice immediately. Finally, I was able to breathe a sigh of somewhat relief.
"As long as you think you can handle this—that Bella can handle this—I'll let you fill-in Emmett and Rose. I just don't have the energy to even try to convey this with nonchalance, because I sure-as-fuck don't feel nonchalant," I huffed. I was so high-strung at the moment, and I knew that I needed to fucking chill out but I couldn't do it on my own. Apparently Jasper and Alice noticed too, because both of their eyes were narrowed in annoyance with my attitude. Rolling mine, I jumped up from the couch I had been occupying. "OK, fine! I'm gonna go smoke a joint. Clearly my presence is too bothersome in this state. Any takers?" I arched an eyebrow in questioning.
Alice was quick to shake her head as she never partook in smoking. Jasper, on the other hand, hesitantly nodded his. A smile crept to my face at the idea of Jasper joining me, my old smoking buddy. It was I that introduced him to Alice a few years back when he became my best friend. Jasper and I enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the forest on my property while smoking some weed and shooting-the-shit. It had been so long since it happened; I made a mental note to invite Jasper to do this again more often.
***
After the Victoria incident at the diner, we all fell into a comfortable pattern—except for whenever Bella was at work. It was rare for us, as a group, to feel anxiety over the situation because Bella only worked Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Friday night was date night, and Saturday was considered group night where we would all get-together or go out and party.
Pleasantly surprising, I found that Bella enjoyed our first official date. I had discovered that a restaurant in Port Angeles was hosting a special event that included a small culinary class where couples got to prepare their own romantic meals while learning tips from the masterful chefs as they progressed through preparing their meal. Bella ate that shit up: literally and figuratively. The smile on her face ignited a passionate-burning sensation in my chest. Although it was quite sensual to cook with her, both of us creating something together—which tasted fucking fantastic, by the way—all I wanted to do was to sit to the side and watch her smile as she worked. She was just sohappy; I had never seen her like that and it was a bit disarming. I had never been the guy to plan romantic dinners or activities. In fact, I abhorred the idea in general, but there was something about Bella—seeing her smile, knowing I made her happy—made me want to always be that guy. Yea, I'm pussy-whipped, I had thought. For dessert, I took Bella to my favorite meadow on a picnic after the sun had set. In my basket that Alice had given me were chocolate-covered strawberries, champagne, and chocolate cake (because I noticed it was Bella's favorite). She had also instructed me to pack outdoor candles so that we could actually see. Alice had said that they were for setting the mood, but I sure as hell wasn't going to eat shit in the dark. I knew that Bella wouldn't eat all of the portions I had provided, she was so damn skinny, but she enjoyed what she did eat. It was the perfect first date and I thought that I had done it quite expertly: not too flashy to scare her off or give her ridiculous expectations of me, but enough to show her that she was worth fawning over.
After an evening of eating out with my girl, I ate out my girl.
***
The second week into October, after bringing up Bella's accident a few times, I finally confronted her about her avoidance.
"Bella, what about the list?" I asked, feigning a patience I had lost ten minutes prior.
"It's not important… let's just forget about it. I can think of something else I'd rather discuss, or do…" she sultrily whispered in my ear as she leaned into me. Instantly, I was hard. Although I had a mission to accomplish, my girl knew how to distract me so easily it was almost embarrassing. She crushed her lips to mine, attempting to ignite the flame into a roaring blaze that already burned steadily within the both of us. I would like to say that something as simple as a blowjob couldn't distract me, but I would be oh so wrong. That's exactly what Bella tried. She had my zipper halfway down, going agonizingly slow—tooth by tooth—when I put a stop to her trickery. Grunting, I zipped myself back up and shimmed away from her little grasp in order to regain composure. After a moment of concentration on dead puppies, I regained purpose and opened my eyes again.
"Sugar, come on. It's just a list of names and numbers… it's not like you actually have to talk to those fucking people, I will," I urged. She let out a low, frustrated growl in response—to which I scowled.
"Ugh! Fine! I don't understand what the big freaking deal is! I don't care what happened anymore. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was for the better—if I hadn't moved here I would have never met you," Bella played, as she planted a kiss on my lips in attempt to distract me again. Clever girl, I thought.
"Ahem, the list?" I questioned and pointed to the pad of paper and pen that sat on the coffee table in front of the couch that was situated in my room that faced the TV. Bella and I had been watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which reminded me of Bella's own amnesias. We had begun to argue about the list she was supposed to provide me with weeks ago. Rolling her eyes, she aggressively reached for the paper and pen and reluctantly started scribbling names down, pairing them with telephone numbers from memory. Apparently she had been mulling over this for a while. Ripping off the top sheet from the pad, she shoved the list at me.
"There!... Whatever," she huffed.
"Oh c'mon sugar, don't be upset. You know that you actually want to know what happened that night… you're just scared of finding out," I comforted and used my limited amount of psychology on her. Sadness glazed over her eyes as she sighed.
"I'm sorry E, I'm just… I hate talking about it. Everything about that night just feels wrong, and I don't like feeling like that," she justified. I understood implicitly, but I hated what it did to her which was exactly why I just had to find out what happened to my girl that night in July. Regarding the list, I recognized some of the names I had heard her say previously:
Mr. & Mrs. Mallory—(555)738-2876
Lauren Mallory's Cell—(555)739-7808
Jane Gilroy's Cell—(555)739-0390
Maggie Mcphear's Cell—(555)739-8389
Alec Mallory's Cell—(555)739-7809
Lauren Mallory's Cell—(555)739-7808
Jane Gilroy's Cell—(555)739-0390
Maggie Mcphear's Cell—(555)739-8389
Alec Mallory's Cell—(555)739-7809
"It's fine babe, it is. So, is this everyone?" I asked.
"Yeah… it's everyone I can think of—everyone in the house that night at least."
"What about people you talked to that day—" I was cut off by Bella's cell ringing, something it rarely did other than when Renée called sporadically. Bella removed her eyes from mine, and flicked them to the screen of her cell before they widened. "Answer it, Bella," I told her after noticing her hesitance. It worried me. She gulped down a breath, slightly nodded, and pressed the answer key.
"Hello, Jacob," she said while keeping eye-contact with me.
***
