.
.
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Jasper
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Throwing some money down on the table - more than enough to cover our tab, Emmett winked at me. I was more than a little confused, it was far more than I would have done, as far as I was concerned, James could go fuck himself.
“He makes the girls pay for walk-outs with their own cash.” He said by way of explanation, and it made sense. I knew my brother would never do that to a working woman, no matter that she was a shitty waitress. Personally, I would have said ‘fuck it’, we didn’t have time for this shit and I could really care less at the moment if she had to pay for our watered down booze or not, Bella was all that mattered.
“Let’s go,” I called to him, impatiently. The longer she was out of my sight, the more nervous I became. I don’t like to be nervous, it’s bad for the health of others when I am.
I expected a lot of shit to transpire in the upcoming moments, but it was nothing compared to what actually happened. And I was certainly not expecting Emmett to walk right the fuck up onto the stage. A few dancers that were still lingering and a few bar patrons watched in awe as my mountain of a brother took the stage steps two at a time. A few said things like; ‘You’re not supposed to be back here.’ and ‘I’ll call the manager.’ I wanted to laugh at that one. Call the fucking manager, I was looking for any excuse I could to fuck that asshole up, anyway. Most of their pathetic excuse to get us to leave died when they caught the look on Emmett’s face that clearly stated ‘Back the fuck off’. And they did, rightly so. I had never seen so much determination in Emmett before, and I doubt the fine folks of this club would enjoy trying to remove him right now.
The stage was a lot bigger than it looked, and had several entrances and exits. I let Emmett lead as he was the one who saw the direction of her departure. We went to the opening at stage right, pushing past the velvet curtains. We were met by screaming, half-nude woman. They were running and ducking behind anything available and for a fleeting moment, I chuckled. Why they were trying to hid themselves from our eyes was anybodies guess. I mean we had seen all they had to offer and much more earlier in the evening, as had most of the club. I couldn’t say I was all that impressed with the goods here. You’d think with the outstanding reviews the place got, I was sure they had supermodels with golden pussies hiding back here somewhere.
As the large dressing and prop area narrowed off into a maze of halls, I drew my gun. The lighting in here sucked and neither I nor Em was wearing a vest. It made me nervous to be going in blind. I didn’t like it.
Emmett growled in frustration as we hit a four-way but muttered ‘fuck it’ and trudged straight ahead. I followed him like the devil was licking at my heels, I needed to find her. Whatever my brother had seen when Bella had exited the stage had him pissed off and spooked, and fuck it all if I wasn’t about to lose my shit. Fear and desperation clawed at my chest every second that ticked by, I was like a ticking time bomb and I felt sorry for the anyone in my path when I went off.
Bella. It was the mantra I chanted, trying to will myself to be calm and face whatever laid ahead. I was scared. I was scared at what I might find when she was found, but I needed to see her, to hold her and make her safe. My heart was hammering in my chest as I subconsciously kept track of which direction we had come from in case we needed to double-back. A task that normally was not an issue was proving to be more than difficult with my mind being in the state it was. I had just seen the girl of my dreams after four years of not knowing if she was alive or dead.
I didn’t know what exactly happened. She had performed so beautifully on stage, and then it looked as if something spooked her. Whatever it was it caused my normally passive brother to go postal. And then there’s Edward, or should I say where the fuck was Edward? All I knew for sure was that cocksucker has some shit to answer for.
Edward has promised the family as a whole that if something were to ever happen, that he would call. He obviously didn’t! Fucking little coward, he was probably to scared of the thought of Emmett and I coming to retrieve Bella that he refused to call. Calm down, Whitlock, I told myself. All the events of tonight were putting a serious strain on my temper, and this chase through the dark halls of James’ nightclub were no exception. I couldn’t navigate down here and I knew Emmett couldn’t either. So, it seemed we were on the hunt with no set destination, just aimless wandering and precious seconds were ticking by. I was certain, however, that we would leave here with Bella this night, or we wouldn’t be coming out at all.
“Em, what the fuck are we doing back here?” I whispered. He reacted exactly like I expected. Swing his massive body around he stared at me like I had just sprouted potatoes from my nose.
“We’re looking for Bella.” His face was hard as stone and his voice laced with venom. “She’s gotta be back here somewhere.” Tell me something I don’t know.
I gave a questioning look, as if to silently ask him what happened, but he offered me no respite, but I guess all in all he didn’t need to. I had learned more than enough by his actions. Emmett had obviously seen something that I had not, something that was bad enough he didn’t want to tell me. Someone had scared Bella earlier and when I found them, that poor motherfucker was gonna wish he was never born. Em was more pissed off than a grizzly in mating season, and I was worse. Whoever it was that we were hunting had better pray Emmett gets there first.
It wasn’t long after we had started walking again that I could detect light footfalls in the distance. The were behind us and they were slow and timid, someone was following us. It was either a woman or a lightly built man who was awfully scared. I grabbed onto the elbow of Emmett’s jacket, halting our steps just as a small voice reached our ears.
 | ||
| Seth Black |
I spun on my heels and I’m sure Emmett did the same. I was cocked, locked and ready to blow this stupid motherfucker’s head off. I recognized his face instantly; it was the bar-tender I had seen when we had first arrived. He was scared but determined. He looked to be in his late twenty to early thirties and possible Native American, but as dark as it was back here, I couldn’t really be certain. He was smart enough not to move a muscle, I would turn his head into a canoe if he did and I think he knew it. I was taking no chances.
“Who are you?” Emmett growled out.
“My..my name’s Seth Black. Look man, I’m just a bar-tender, but if-” he started to move but thought better of it when I tensed. “If you’re looking for Bella, she’s down the hallway to your right, it’s the only door you can’t miss it. Please don’t shoot me.” He begged backing away. Seth was seconds away from pissing himself, and that made me smirk.
“And why should we believe you?” I asked skeptically. “Why would you tell two total strangers where she is?”
His eyes turned cold. “Look, you don’t have to believe me, but it’s her funeral.” he growled lowly. “As for your question, I already know who you are and Bella is a friend of my brother.”
“And just who am I?” I snarled. Anyone in that bar could have pointed us out at anytime and I didn’t like the thought of this guy knowing anything about me.
“She talked about you… a lot when she gets drunk.” He whispered. “Your Jazz, right?
The tension in the air was palpable and I was getting twitchier by the second. I wanted to believe him, wanted to believe that she would talk about me, remember me, but I digress. I looked to Emmett, trying to gauge his feelings but he just shrugged apparently not knowing what to make of this either.
When I said nothing to deny or confirm his claim he continued. “If you need more convincing Bella told me that she broke her arm on your twenty-first birthday; mechanical bull accident, right?”
Fuck. He had me there, there was no way James could know about that. I smiled at the memory of that night, or what I could remember anyway. God, we were all so shit-faced that night. Emmett swears up and down that I professed my love to Bella that night and that she kissed me. I’ve never believed it, Emmett was drunker than Bella and I put together.
Believing his story I lowered my gun and gestured for him to take off, he did faster than I would have thought possible as I made a point to watch him go. Seth may have known Bella, he may have been totally honest about everything he said, but I wasn’t about to turn my back on him. Seth made a few feet before he stopped and turned around, I in turn raised my gun again. “I would hurry if I were you,” he told us. “James was pissed at her tonight and he’s never handled rejection well.”
If my blood hadn’t already been boiling before, it sure as hell was now. One word, one simple little word was all it took to put me over the edge, ‘rejection’. My heart was racing and my hands were shaking as the thoughts of him touching her raced through my mind. Had James been hurting her because she refused him? If so, how long? Was she hurt now? Had he succeeded in… No Jasper, not now, I thought stopping myself there. I couldn’t afford to lose it now, not with Bella being on the line, I had to regain control of myself, at least for now.
As a loud “FUCK,” reverberated through the halls I realized that I was not the only one in need of control as Emmett started sprinting down the hall. We had gone no more than fifty feet when we heard her scream. It was deafening to my ears and sent a sense of dread tingling down my spine. I took off in full run, something I hadn’t done for years, pushing past Emmett as I made my way towards her terrified pleas. I stopped at the door for a moment to check my pistol, it was loaded and weapons free but my hulking mass of a brother didn’t bother, using his body like a battering ram the door splintered and came tumbling down with a thud.
White hot rage clouded my vision as the horror of what I was seeing registered. Bella, my sweet Bella was strewn across a desk with James boney fingers wrapped around her throat. Her face was starting to form horrendous bruises and her lips were discolored from the lack of oxygen. James had stopped whatever he had been previously doing, but I could tell by their position and by the tattered remains of her clothing littering the room what he had been up to, the picture was all very clear.
James jumped, obviously startled by Emmett breaking the door down, but he didn’t release her either. He had removed some of the pressure from Bella’s throat but he was still smirking. Gasping and chocking she called to me as James went to strike her again. I had my gun to his temple before he could blink.
“Son, you fucked with the wrong lady.” I told him with a snarl and his once confident smirk was long gone. That piece of shit was stupid but not so stupid that he didn’t know I would kill him on the spot. He had fire in his eyes as he released her and took a step back, as soon as he was a safe distant from my angel I hit that fucker as hard as I could, fucker dropped like a sack of potatoes. Pussy. I guess he wasn’t to keen on fighting someone his own size and gender. Too bad for him, I thought as blood started to pour from his nose.
“Emmett.” I called.
Nodding, he grabbed a zip tie from his coat and secured the pricks hands behind his back. James had some questions to answer before I ended his miserable existence. I turned to my angel just in time to see her start to collapse from the fatigue of the evening, she was sobbing wildly and calling for me. I was sure she couldn’t even see me at this point, between the blood that was caked to her face, the hair matted to her face and the eye that was nearly swollen shut there was no fucking way she could see. I holstered my gun and pushed the hair back from Bella’s face. Looking her over I could tell that James had certainly worked her over but it’s nothing compared to what I’m gonna do to him.
I whispered her names, soothingly and she flung herself at me. Wrapping her in a strong embrace, uttering reassuring praises. Emmett was staring at me with a look I couldn’t quite place before he schooled his features back to normal. James having came to moments ago was cackling at Emmett like a wild man and shaking his head at him, almost like he knew something I didn’t.
“You don’t know do you. I can see it, can you?” James asked me. I didn’t have time for this shit, and whatever the hell that crazy bastard was talking about would have to wait, as I didn’t know when someone would come looking for him, if any. Emmett who’s eyes seem to widen at what James had said, using the grip of his pistol, knocked the fucker out cold. I would have to ask Emmett what that was all about later, right now I had more pressing matters to deal with.
Bella. She was my priority, a priority that was in desperate need of medical attention. I needed to get her home, home to her family. I cringed internally when I thought about explaining all of this to Carlisle, he was gonna fucking blow his top over this, I’m sure and Alistair would be worse.
“Bella,” I called, raising her chin so our eyes would meet. “We need to go angel.” She nodded minutely and a ghosted of a smile caressed her lips. It made my heart ache with sadness. She had been gone too long and I missed her terribly.
I knew I was in trouble when Bella took the cigarette - I had forgotten hanging between my lips and took a long drag. She looked up at me with those beautiful cinnamon eyes and smirked. “What the fuck took you so long?”
I couldn’t stop the mirthful laugh that escaped me. She may have been dealt a shitty hand but she was still my Bella, cracking jokes just after getting her ass kicked. I picked her up in a threshold carry and Emmett scrambled to get her covered with what looked like to be Bella’s robe. That sick bastard, he had planned to rape her from the get go. She sighed in what little comfort she could get and rested her head on my shoulder. Placing a chaste to the skin of my neck she whispered. “I’ve missed you, Jazz.”
 |
| Emmett Cullen |
I was damn near ecstatic to have her home in my arms. Yes, she was hurt but she was safe and this time everything would be different. This time I refused to let her go, I had made myself a promise on the very night that she left; if I were to ever find her again I would tell her all that was in my heart and this was a promise I’d keep.
Emmett chuckled and placed a small kiss on her forehead. “Good to have you back, Belly-bean.”
“Fuck off, Em.” Was her laughing reply.
“Yeah, missed you too.” He told her in a booming laugh.
“What’d want to do with this asshole?” Emmett asked, giving James’ prone form a swift kick.
 |
| Randell |
And James didn’t know it yet, but he would be dealt with, and it would be me to delve the punishment.
I could hear Emmett giving directions to the club as I started for the door. Just passing through the threshold I heard a tiny growl. What the fuck?
I cocked a brow at Emmett who was just finishing his conversation shrugged and scratched the back of his head, he was just as puzzled as I was. When I heard it again, I spoke out loud. “What the fuck?”
Bella immediately popped up, almost like having a light bulb moment. Hell I was surprised she didn’t jump out of my arms and yell ‘Ah ha’. “Oh Em, grab Miggs for me, would ya?”
Holy Hell, that had to be the ugliest fuckin’ dog I’ve ever seen. I almost laughed to myself, only Bella would have a dog that looked like he had a foot in the grave already. I mean it was hideous, one eyed and producing enough drool to make a St. Bernard proud. Gross!
“Miggs, stop that!” Bella scolded the little creature. “Let, Em pick you up.”
Emmett didn’t exactly look fearful of the little ankle bitter but he hardly looked thrilled at the idea of trying to pick it up again. Unlike before this time success was made as he laid the now, drool covered handbag, in Bella’s lap. The fact that Bella even had a dog ugly or not, only confirmed my suspensions of Edward’s defection. Edward hates dogs, and I knew one that looked like this one did would not be on top of the prissy fuckers approval list. I personally could care less how ugly the little beast was, Bella seemed to be content with the little flea bag and that was all that mattered in my book.
Seeing that I was carrying both Bella and her stinking drool stain, Emmett went out the door first checking for both hired guards and any other fool lurking about that might call the pork committee. We had no problem sneaking to the back exit and it made me wonder if James was so hated that no one cared if he went missing, it seemed likely. Randell was just pulling in in what I like to call his high class terrorist van, he hated the name and well, I hated the vehicle - Mercedes or not.
Reaching my SUV I decided I wasn’t quite ready to be separated from Bella’s body and told Emmett he was driving and where my keys were. He didn’t argue.
The drive was mostly quiet but you could still feel the tension in the air. I think it was equal parts left over adrenaline and fear of Carlisle’s and Esme’s reaction at seeing her again. Fuck, I groaned internally. “Emmett, call the house.”
“What do you wanna tell them?” He asked, he knew that trying to explain the situation over the phone would be pointless and stressful, so I told him the only thing I could.
“Don’t tell them anything, just that we are on our way home and to have an injured woman with us.”
“Esme’s gonna have your nuts for this, you know that, right?” I didn’t even dignify that with an answer and Emmett didn’t press anymore on me.
Emmett and Bella made a few snarky comments back and forth, but nothing too heavy. I think he wanted her to have a little time before we all started bombarding her with questions, and boy howdy did I have them. It wasn’t long after that Bella fell asleep, her head in my lap, I figured that even if she did have a concussion that Carlisle would just say to wake her every three hours or so. The remainder of the ride was in silence, Emmett too seemed to be using this time to reflect.
I was still reeling from seeing Bella on that stage tonight. Now don’t get me wrong Bella has always been stunning, but tonight all my boyhood fantasies of her seemed to come to life. I would never have believed without seeing her that she was a dancer. Let’s face it Bella has always been a crazy bitch, but that was one of the reasons I loved her so much, but Bella was one of the guys, she loved motorcycles, good whiskey and ESPN. My Bella could give a fuck less about dressing up with the girls. Dancing, make-up and shopping - trust me she wasn’t interested, much to Alice’s chagrin. Hell, on Thanksgiving we would have to set up a TV in the kitchen just so she wouldn’t burn whatever it was she was making. Bella is a wonderful cook, but when it came between ESPN and dinner, you had better have the take out menu ready.
All my inner ramblings about the girl I once knew did nothing but add fuel to the proverbial fire. I wanted answers. Bella hated the lifestyle I can only assume she had been living for the past four years, but the question is, why? What could have happened so bad that she had been forced to become someone she’s not? I just didn’t understand and that frustrated me to no end. I would get my answers one way or another and I didn’t care who I had to end to get them.
The house was lit from one end to the other, letting me know that the guards had in fact, woken up Carlisle and Esme. I held Bella and her slobbering dog in my arms as Emmett held the car door for me, shifting her only slightly but not waking her. The front door was thrown open before either I or Emmett could even reach the first concrete step and Esme appeared before me, concern evident in her eyes.
“Good Lord, Jasper! What on Earth?” She stammered, not sure who or what to look at first. I was glad that her shrieking had scarred Miggs back into his bag, for I couldn’t quite say how she would react at seeing his ugly mug. But as for her reaction now, I’m sure we all looked a mess. Bella and I were covered in blood, snot and drool and even though Emmett was spared he still looked wild; his nose was red and his eyes bloodshot. Esme eyed us all curiously but hurried us all in nonetheless.
My eyebrows shot into my hairline at his question and all the emotions I had been holding in throughout the night poured out of me. “Beaten…” was all I could choke out as I began to break down. Seeing her for the first time in the harsh, unforgiving light, I could no longer hold it all in.
“Jasper,” Carlisle called, breaking my train of thought. “Son, are you alright?”
When I didn’t reply he moved on. “Does she have identification on her?” He asked instead. And again my eyebrows shot up in question. How could he not know her? Had she really changed so much? Yes, I guess she had. Sure she had been a little on the awkward side when she left, but I didn’t think she had changed so much that Carlisle wouldn’t recognize her.
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