Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

"Holy Fuck Em, did you kidnap the Princess?" Edward asked, as he glanced at me in the rear-view mirror, I was scrambling around the back seat trying to locate my seatbelt. I'm sure I looked quite panicked because I couldn't seem to find it and Edward was driving incredibly fast through the quiet streets of Forks.

"Of course not, you stupid fucker, I asked if she was coming and she said yes." Big guy sounded put out that he had been accused of kidnapping.

"You make a habit of jumping in cars when giant strangers ask you to, Princess?" Edward asked eyeing me again and I found myself wishing he'd keep his eyes on the road

"No, this would be the first time." I laughed as I finally located the seatbelt and rushed to get it on.

"Wanna hang with us for a while?" Big dude asked.

"Uh, ok." It did occur to me that getting in a car with two boys I didn't know and agreeing to hang out with them wasn't the wisest decision I'd ever made, but for some reason I wasn't concerned. I knew they would look after me, it was just a feeling I got from the big one and Edward had made sure I got home on Friday night, so I assumed he'd do the same today. My dad was working the late shift so he wouldn't be home until midnight, leaving me free to do as I pleased until then.

"Em, we gotta pick up at T's." Edward glanced at me. It was like he was talking in code and did anyone have an actual name? All this 'E', 'Em', 'T', nonsense, hah, that sounded like EMT, which made me chuckle, causing Em to turn round and stare at me. I waved him off as I wracked my brain for what Em could be short for, I couldn't think of a single name except Emily and huge dude did not look like an Emily.

"Come on E, it'll be fun. We can pick Rose up on the way. T won't start too much shit if she's there."

I was lost, but Edward nodded and seemed to agree to me tagging along, so I sat back in my seat.

"Fucking excellent. Road trip!" Huge dude shouted excitedly, even going so far as to do a fist pump in the air. I couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm.

"I've got some shit to do in Port Angeles Princess. It won't take long, we should be back in Forks before ten." Edward told me as he pulled out of Forks. "You ok with that?"

"Uh huh." I answered and Edward upped his speed, I just hoped my dad didn't pull us over, because that would take some explaining.

"Cool, we just gotta stop by my house to pick up Rose. Em, phone her make sure she's ready."

Em, who I was yet to be introduced to properly, got out his cell. "Hey peaches…, you up for a road trip…, aw come on, please…., E's gotta stop by T's…., Uh huh…., I thought it might…, Two minutes, oh and don't be alarmed but E's got someone with him…., no straight up..., Uh, Shit! I don't know, hang on." He put his phone to his chest and turned to me. "Um, what's your name?" he asked sheepishly.

"Bella." I laughed.

"Bella." Em went back to his phone call. "Of course she's a fucking girl, who calls their son Bella?..., anyone else home?.., Ok see you in a few. Love you peaches." He hung up.

"Peaches?" Edward laughed.

"Fuck off." Em grumbled good-naturedly. "So Bella. I guess I should tell you my name huh." He smiled at me.

"That might be nice." I agreed.

"I'm Emmet. Emmett Cullen."

Emmett, what kind of name is that? I'd never heard of it before, but somehow it kind of suited him.

"You're Edward's brother?" I asked shocked, they were nothing alike. Emmett whipped his head around and stared at me open mouthed his eyes flicking back and forth between Edward and me.

"Nah Princess, this dick's my cousin." Edward chuckled, as Emmett continued to gape at me.

"Sorry" I told him, thinking I'd offended him by assuming they were brothers.

"No, no, you…, E?..., she..."

"Shut the fuck up Em." Edward cut off whatever Emmett was trying to say.

"Holy Shit! Rosie's gonna flip." Emmett shouted.

Again I had no idea what they were talking about. I resigned myself to the fact that I'd probably spend the whole evening confused.

After a few minutes Edward pulled into a driveway that was hidden in the trees, he drove through the forest for a while before we entered a clearing. There on a huge lawn, was the biggest house I've ever seen.

"Is this your house." I whispered in awe.

"Yeah, well it's my parent's house." Edward shrugged.

"Wow." I was lost for words. These people must be seriously loaded. Edward pulled up outside the front door, just as it swung open and a tall gorgeous blonde walked down the steps. "Is everyone you know beautiful?" I asked out loud instead of keeping it in my head.

Edward laughed as Emmett jumped out of the car to open the back door for her.

"Hi." She smiled as she sat down next to me.

"Hi." I said meekly, slightly intimidated by this girls beauty.

Edward raced back down his driveway and back onto the road heading towards Port Angeles.

"E, you rude fuck, are you going to introduce me to your friend?" Rose said as Emmett laughed.

"Oh, right…, yeah. Rose this is, uh, Bella." She nodded at me. "Princess, this is Rosalie, Em's girlfriend and general pain in the fucking ass." Edward smirked and ducked as Rosalie swatted at him. Again I wished he would pay more attention to the road.

"Princess?" Rose questioned and I shrugged at her, I have no idea why Edward calls me that. He actually didn't even know my real name until Emmett asked.

"That's not the best of it Rosie." Emmett bounced in his seat.

"How old are you Em?" Edward groaned.

"Fuck you, this is huge." Emmett laughed while Edward gave him the finger. "Yo, B." Emmett called to me.
B, really? Did proper names cause some kind of difficulty for this family. "Whose car are we in?" he asked.

"What? His." I said pointing to Edward thoroughly confused, again, until an awful thought struck me. "Or is this not your car, oh God, you didn't steal it did you." I gasped, and then blushed as all three of them burst out laughing.

"Sorry." I told them, I was so embarrassed.

"Anyway." Emmett said when he finished laughing. "Back to my original question. Whose car is this?"

"Don't wind her up Em." Rose said rolling her eyes.

"I'm not. Trust me Rosie, her answer will blow your fucking mind." He said wide eyed and staring at her.

"Ok Em, whatever you say babe." She smiled sweetly at him, then suddenly swatted Edward around the head. "Did you give him drugs again?" she yelled.

"What the fuck Rose. Of course I didn't give him drugs. I had to spend the day with him remember, like I'd subject myself to this giant moron being high all day. Em, dude, control your woman, because I will leave her ass on the side of the fucking road if she hits me again. Princess, can you please put my dick cousin out of his misery and answer his question. Rose will more than likely gape at you for a while, Emmett will get over excited like the fucking five year old he is and then we can all get on with our lives and hopefully the rest of the journey will be relatively drama free. Fuck I need a smoke." He leant over to the glove compartment and pulled out a packet, throwing one in his mouth and pulling a lighter out of his pocket. He cracked his window and lit his smoke, pulling on it deeply before exhaling slowly.

I was stunned. I'd never heard Edward say so much in one go, he was fairly commanding which I found hot as hell. I was slightly perturbed by Rose's comment about giving Emmett drugs again, it implied Edward had given him drugs before, and I really didn't understand Emmett's need for me to tell Rose whose car we were in. She clearly knew it was Edwards.

"Aw man, you've totally ruined it now." Emmett said sulkily.

"I don't get it." Rose said.

"Me either." I admitted. "Is there something funny about us being in Edward's car?" I asked her.

Rosalie gasped and her eyes widened. "See, see. What did I tell you Rosie Posie. Fucking Epic!" Emmett clapped and bounced in the front seat.

Totally confused, which I'm finding is an almost constant state while I'm around Edward, I looked up at him in the mirror, he raised his eyebrow and smirked at me, in an 'I told you so' kind of way, his cigarette was hanging loosely from his mouth and oh dear Lord! He looked like sin. Dirty, delicious, sexy, sin. It was a good job I had my seatbelt on because I might have jumped him if I wasn't restrained.

Rosalie regained her composure fairly quickly, and the rest of the journey was filled with idle chatter. It was, just as Edward had hoped, relatively drama free with only a small altercation between Edward and Emmett over which radio station to put on. This involved some pushing and slapping and a lot of cursing. I stayed out of it and just worried about Edward driving while simultaneously fighting with Emmett and at one stage smoking as well.

Despite worrying I was going to be involved in a road traffic accident, due to Edward's rather cavalier attitude to driving, I was enjoying myself. I don't know what I was expecting and I still didn't really know anything about these people, Edward was still a mystery but the more time I spent with him, the more I wanted to figure him out.

Before long we were in Port Angeles and Edward pulled up in the parking lot of the mall downtown.

"Plan?" Emmett asked, all traces of humour gone.

"Leave the girls here, we'll hit everyone except T." Edward said.

Rosalie jumped out of the car and Emmett followed. Edward turned to me. "You have a cell phone?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, hand it over, I'll program my number into it, call if you need to. I just gotta take care of some business with Em and then I'll pick you up. You can shop with Rose or something."

I groaned and grabbed my cell out of my bag handing it to him.

"You don't like shopping Princess?"

"Not really."

"Huh. I thought most girls loved shopping." He looked genuinely bemused, as he entered his number into my phone.

"I'm not most girls." I shrugged.

He looked up at me, his green eyes piercing my soul. "No, you're not." He said quietly, before shaking his head quickly as if to clear it. "You should start at the phone store, this is fucking ancient." He threw my phone back to me.

"It makes and receives calls, what more could I possibly need from a phone?" I told him.

"Don't ever let Jazz hear you say that." he said somewhat cryptically, and got out, he opened my door for me and I went to join Rose. Emmett and Edward got back in the car and were gone.

I felt tense now I was alone with Rose, the boys had a way of making me feel safe and relaxed. I had agreed to hang out with them, but now I was faced with spending an unknown amount of time alone with Rose and I was nervous. This was shaping up to be the strangest day I'd ever had.
"Come on, let's get some coffee and then we can spend some money." She smiled at me and headed into the mall leaving me no choice but to follow her. We chatted over coffee and I soon relaxed in her company, I don't know what it was about Edward, Emmett and Rose but I felt comfortable around them, despite them being relative strangers to me.

"So when did you meet E?" she asked.

"Friday night, I was in the diner with a friend, do you know Mike Newton?"

"Newt, sure, he's been by the house a couple of times."

"Well Edward and him had to go somewhere so Edward dropped me home, and then he was at my school today with Emmett, they seem to have, er, a problem with Mike, I'm not sure why." I added hoping she might explain what was going on between Mike and Edward, but she didn't.

"I still can't believe you call him Edward."

"Huh?"

"No one calls him that, he's E or Cullen, only his parents and his grandfather call him by his name, most people don't even know it, you must have made some impression on him if he told you."

"I just asked him." I shrugged, I didn't get what the big deal was. "Wait, is that why you and Emmett were so shocked in the car?"

"Yep, to hear you call him that and not have him react badly was a shock, usually he goes postal. I think our little E might have a crush."

"I doubt it." I said blushing, there was no way someone like Edward would ever be interested in someone like me.

"He calls you Princess!" she laughed.

"Yeah, but that's only because he didn't know my name until Emmett asked when he was on the phone to you." I argued.

"Uh huh." She said not believing me for a second. "We'll see."

"How long have you and Emmett been together?" I asked, eager to change the subject.

"About five years. We're getting married in August, and then I really want to be a mom." She said happily.

"You're getting married?" I asked shocked, she didn't look much older than me, and she was ready for marriage and kids. Jesus, I'd never even been kissed.

"Yep." She smiled happily, putting her hand out on the table to show off a gigantic rock on her ring finger.

"Wow, that's some ring." I said as she nodded. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen, Emmett's Twenty. We practically grew up together, Jasper is E's best friend and we all went to high school together. We all graduated last summer, well except Alice. We've all been friends since we were kids."

"That must have been nice." I mused.

"Only child?" Rose guessed and I nodded. "Come on, let's go spend some of the Cullen fortune." She laughed and got up.

I followed her around while she bought some clothes and a new purse. She tried to persuade me to try some things on but I wasn't being swayed. I couldn't afford anything in the shops we went in. She thought nothing of the price and paid for everything with a black credit card.

We were at the checkout of an upmarket boutique when my phone rang.

"Hello." I answered.

"Princess, we're outside, tell Rose to stop spending my fucking money and get her ass out to the car." Edward laughed and hung up. I stared at my phone for a while before informing Rose, more politely, that the boys were waiting for us.

When we got to the car both boys jumped out. Emmett took Rose's shopping bags and Edward opened the door of the car for me, I actually felt like a Princess when they did things like that. It was so old-fashioned and gentlemanly.

"Dinner?" Edward asked.

"Steak." Emmett shouted.

"Sushi" Rose said at the same time.

"Em, you had steak for lunch, and Rose you can fuck right off if you think I'm eating raw fish. What do you want to eat Princess?" Edward asked and all three of them turned to look at me.

"Er, I don't mind. Whatever you guys want is fine."

"Princess, we'll argue for at least an hour and probably come to blows before we make a decision, so if you wanna get back to Forks at a decent hour, I highly suggest you tell me what you want to eat."

"Pizza?" I said as a question, uncomfortable that I was being forced to choose, but figuring everyone liked pizza.

"I really, really, fucking like you." Emmett said to me as Edward pulled onto the road. Less than ten minutes later we were seated at a table in a small Pizza joint.

We all ordered cokes, Rose and I decided to share a plain cheese pizza. Emmett wanted the works and ordered a whole one for himself, so Edward had no choice but to order a whole pizza as well.
The waitress bought our food over, swaying her hips and smiling in Edward's direction, she hovered around the table until Rose sent her a glare that would turn someone to ice and she hurried away.

Dinner was a hoot, Emmett was hilarious, Rose was fun and Edward seemed to relax a bit, joining in with Emmett's jokes. I was happy just to watch them all, they seemed like really good friends. They never made me feel left out while they talked about the time they spent at school and about Alice and Jasper.

Turned out Jasper was Rose's twin brother and Alice was Edward's younger sister.

"How we gonna work it at T's?" Emmett asked when he finished his pizza. The three of them suddenly turning more serious.

Edward glanced at me before answering. "We leave the girls in the car and go in the back."

"No fucking way, the only reason I agreed to this little road trip was because Em said we were going to T's.

"Alright, so me and Rose go in, Em you stay in the car with the Princess."

"I'm not letting Rose go in without me." Emmett mumbled pulling Edward's pizza in front of him.

"Fuck Em, I can't leave her in the car by herself." Edward ran a hand through his hair and squeezed his eyes closed. I was confused, just to make a pleasant change.

"So we bring her." Emmett shrugged. "Ever been to a strip club B?"

"Um, no, I'm seventeen."

"So is E and trust me, he's been to loads. Horny little fucker."

"Don't be hating me, just cos you gave Rose your balls before you hit puberty." Edward laughed.

I didn't know what to make of the strip club revelation, so I said the only thing I could think of. "You're seventeen? Rose said you graduated last summer." Edward didn't look much older than me, but the way he conducted himself had me assuming he was the same age as Emmett.

"Uh yeah, I did." Edward mumbled looking a little embarrassed.

"He's a smart motherfucker." Emmett added, finishing off Edward's pizza.

"Smarter than you, you dumb fuck." Edward pushed Emmett's head and he in turn punched Edward in the arm.

"E graduated early, Emmett was a year late, so both of them ended up in mine and Jazz's class. That's how we all graduated together." Rose explained to me, rolling her eyes at the boys, as they continued to push and shove each other. "So if we're taking Bella with us, how's it gonna play out?" Rosalie interrupted their fighting before it escalated.

"We go in the front, you take Princess to the bar and stay on T, Em and I will find J." Edward said and Rose nodded. "We'll come back for you when we're done, then you can have at her." He smiled.

"I'm gonna fuck her shit up." Rose rubbed her hands together and her eyes twinkled. "In fact, Bella coming in with us could work in my favour, if she sees you together she'll flip."

"No, absolutely not." Edward said firmly.

"Ah, come on E. It'll be perfect and I won't do anything until you and Em are back."

"Hell yeah." Emmett cried out. "It'll be golden."

I was tired of being confused. They all seemed to know what each other was talking about but I had no clue.

"You know I have no idea what any of you are talking about don't you." I said bravely

"Yeah." Edward nodded and left it at that.

"Tanya, known as T, has a bit of an infatuation with our boy here." Rose started nodding towards Edward.

"Ok, so what's that got to do with me?"

"Rose." Edward warned, but she ignored him.

"T's got a nasty temper and I want to rile her up, you can help me." She shrugged.

"Princess, you don't have to do anything, I'll come get you and we'll wait in the car while Rose does her thing. The crazy bitch hates me."

"Why does she hate you?" I asked him.

"We had a little disagreement." Edward said.

"He means he fucked her and now she's pissed." Rose clarified bluntly as Edward groaned and ran his hands over his face.

"Oh, um, ok, did she not like him, er, doing that." I stuttered stupidly, a bit thrown by the casual reference to Edward having sex.

Emmett threw his head back and laughed loudly. "Fucking priceless." He said shaking his head. "I think it's safe to say she liked it Bella." He added still chuckling.

"I don't understand." I really didn't.

"She's pissed because he told her in no uncertain terms that he wouldn't do it again." Rose explained.

"What was it you said E?"

"Shut the fuck up Em." Edward said tersely, looking at me.

"I wouldn't dip my dick back in your overused pussy if the fate of the free world depended on it." Emmett slapped the table. "That was it! You should have seen her face."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Edward glared at him.

"I'm just going to, um, freshen up." I told Rose, standing up and almost running to the rest rooms.

I splashed my face with cold water, and took a moment. I was completely out of my comfort zone, I had no idea how to deal with what I knew about Edward. He smoked, possibly took drugs, cursed like a sailor, apparently liked strip clubs, had sex and clearly wasn't very complimentary afterwards and may have beaten Mike up on Friday night, but he was also funny and kind, had great manners, he was obviously close to his family and friends, he was smart enough that he graduated early, and he treated me like a princess. I couldn't deny that I was crazy attracted to him. But still, it was a lot to process in a few hours.

The intelligent part of my brain, was screaming at me to run like hell and stay as far away from Edward as possible. I knew I should. I could go back home to my quiet police chief dad, and my responsible, law-abiding friend Jake and my annoyingly nice non-boyfriend Mike and pretend that I'd never met Edward Cullen, stick to the plan and just survive for the next twelve months before I head out of Forks.

But at some stage during the last few hours, my subconscious had changed my plans, and now, surviving and going through the motions until college didn't appeal to me at all. Being around Edward had me confused but exhilarated, and although it had been the strangest day of my life, it had also been one of the best. I certainly wasn't ready for it to be over yet, who knew if I'd see him again after tonight.

I headed out of the restroom determined to make the most of this one night. Edward was stood against the wall waiting for me.

"Hi." I said.

"Hi." He gave me a small smile. "Look, about all that…." He waved in the direction of our table and sighed. "I can take you home."

"No!" I said panicked.

"I'll call you a cab, if you don't want to get back in my car." He said looking at his feet and misunderstanding my refusal.

"I thought that we were going to the, um, strip club." I said blushing.

"You still want to come?" he asked looking up quickly.

"Um, yeah, if that's ok."

"Shit Princess, you're just full of fucking surprises." He pushed away from the wall and came closer to me.

"Are you sure?" he asked looking me in the eye as he came to a stop just inches from me.

"I want to come with you." I whispered.

"Ok" he agreed, his eyes searching my face for something, and I don't know what he saw, but he threw one arm around my lower back, pulling me abruptly to him, his lips crashed into mine instantly. I was frozen with shock for a moment before I realised what was happening. I was having my first kiss. With Edward Cullen!

It wasn't soft or tentative, like I had expected my first kiss to be. He took total control, forcefully plunging his tongue into my mouth the second I gasped with surprise and pulling me tighter to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, letting myself get lost in the feeling of Edward kissing me, as his tongue expertly explored my mouth.

He moaned and brought his other hand up to the back of my head, holding me to him closer and tilting my head so he could kiss me deeper. I ran my hands up into his hair tugging gently and he moaned again.

He pulled away before I was ready and I fell into him. I was breathing heavily and Edward pressed his lips softly to mine just once.

"Um, wow." I murmured, unsure of what the protocol was after sharing a kiss like that. Edward smiled a shy smile and took my hand leading me out of the restaurant. I used my other hand to touch my lips gently, a small smile on my face.

Emmett and Rose were waiting by the car and both of them smiled widely when they caught sight of us.

Edward opened my door for me and kissed me softly on the forehead once I was settled. Rose wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at me as he shut the door and I blushed.

"Let's go see some strippers!" Emmett yelled excitedly, causing Rose to smack him around the head as Edward took off at speed.

I relaxed back into my seat amazed at the turn my day had taken. When I got up this morning I had been resigned to spending the next year counting down the days until I could leave forks and start living. Thinking my day would be another boring Monday spent with Mike and the gang, doing homework and laundry after school, and now here I was, having had my first kiss with a hot boy I knew next to nothing about and off to a strip club with three people I didn't really know, but felt a strange connection with. A sense of belonging I hadn't ever felt before. I was experiencing new things. I was finally living. It was thrilling, if not a little confusing, but I was loving it.

I had a funny feeling meeting Edward Cullen was going to change my life in ways I had yet to imagine.