Author’s notes:
Chapter 60??? Can you believe that??
A great big giant shout out to Fourchette, who has been doing all the blog changes you have seen! It is awesome, and I am graphically challenged, so there is no way I could do it on my own!
I am seriously behind in reviews, emails, PMs, etc. Sorry about that. I’m playing attention, really! But I probably won’t be able to respond to very many of them before the weekend.
Hindsight is a beautiful thing.
Chapter 60:
“Considering which end of the gun is pointing at you, I think your name is a little more important here.” I sounded calm, even to myself, but inside I was a freaking wreck. I had no idea who this guy was. His voice wasn’t familiar, and I couldn’t see him in the dim light well enough to determine if I knew his face. Normally, I might not have cared that much – I would have either shot him or taken the chance, solely dependent on my mood – but I couldn’t do that now. Bella was inside, and if anything happened to me, she’d be on her own.
“My name is Lee Stephens,” he told me. “I know you probably don’t know me, but we have a mutual friend. Aro Volturi? Well, I guess he’s an ex-friend.”
He laughed nervously.
“Um…seriously,” he continued. “I was trying to work out a deal with you, through him, when he…well…”
His feet shuffled a little on the gravel drive. I took a half step forward and touched the back of his neck with the barrel. He went still.
“I just want to talk business, I swear.”
“You want to explain why you showed up here, to talk whatever business you want to talk about at this time of night?”
“I wasn’t really planning on talking to you tonight,” he said. “I heard you were in the area, and thought I’d take a chance on finding you. You know…to maybe talk about finishing the deal with you directly? I should have been here hours ago, but I got lost and drove around forever. I wasn’t even sure I had the right place, but when I saw a light on…”
His nervous laugh resurfaced.
Hindsight is a beautiful thing. The thing that sucks about it is that you can’t use it before hand.
There were probably a dozen little alarms going off in my head. I didn’t know why I didn’t pay them any heed. Bella was far too distracting, and I really did seem to have a hard time thinking straight when every other thought was about her, even with my gun up to some idiot who practically snuck up on me in the middle of the night. A thousand thoughts about her safety were going through my head – killing him would require either a cleanup crew of a big-ass hole in the ground, which I did not want to dig. I didn’t want him to even see Bella, because even knowing I was here with someone could be a threat. At the same time, someone probably knew he was here, so killing him wasn’t the best idea, either. He could even have a collection of thugs on the other side of the hill.
If he was really just here for a quick deal…well…it would be a lot more suspicious for me not to talk to him than it would be for me to talk to him. Besides, if I talked to him for a while I might get an idea of he was legit or not. If he was, I could make nice with him, talk a little business and send him on his way. If things got a little dicey…well, I’d deal with that as it comes along.
“I can leave…come back in the morning…”
There was sweat collecting on the back of his neck, so at least I knew he was genuinely worried. I dropped the gun slightly, but still kept it aimed at him.
“Back of the house,” I said. I followed behind him as we walked around the corner to the back patio. I reached over and shut the door, not wanting Bella to wake up or be seen. I motioned with the gun for him to sit in one of the chairs, and I sat next to him and finally got a good look. He was a tall guy, kind of burly and maybe about twenty-five. He kind of looked like one of those suburban gang members who desperately wanted to be a bad ass, but just couldn’t quite pull it off.
“Who are you again?” I asked.
“Lee Stephens,” he said. “I’ve been kind of an admirer of yours, I guess you would say. I’ve done a few deals – small time stuff only, nothing that would interfere with your business or anything. I was hoping I might be able to start using you as a supplier, to be completely blunt.”
His nervous laugh was starting to annoy the shit out of me.
“And?”
“And…um…” His hand wiped the back of his neck. “I tried to get an appointment with you, and I couldn’t. So, I went through Aro.”
“Maybe you should still go through Aro.” I kept my gaze steady and right on him.
“Is that a joke or something?” he asked.
“Am I laughing?”
“Um…no…” he mumbled. His hand rubbed at his forehead. “Aro’s who organization got taken over. No one’s seen him, so I kind of figured he was out, you know?”
“No, I don’t,” I said. “I’m on vacation.”
“Oh…yeah,” he stumbled over his words. “Shit, I’m really sorry about that. I just…wanted to meet you…you know, start up a business relationship? I know you can get what my clients want, and I’d like to work with you.”
“How did you find this place?”
“Word gets around,” he said with a shrug.
I leveled the H&K with his face.
“Give me a better answer,” I demanded. This guy was either stupid or extremely amateur. Maybe both.
“Shit…Uh…I heard from Harry Clearwater that you had a place around here. I do some work with his son, Seth. They said you were out of the country – out of the States, that is – and that you weren’t too far from where I had a warehouse. I was here anyway, so I took the chance.”
“Not good enough.” I stood up and took a step towards him. His hands went in the air.
“I swear!” he cried. “Shit – really! I only wanted to meet you! I tried to work through the Hales and a couple of the Pack guys, and they couldn’t get me an appointment with you! I just want to buy some guns, I swear!”
I stared at him for a moment, making sure my calm and collected exterior remained and none of my internal thoughts and worries were displayed. His story was plausible. I didn’t tend to take appointments for new customers – I had enough business and I was pretty exclusive. It was entirely possible a small times dealer like this guy obviously was would go through Aro, who would place a larger order for multiple clients. I slowly lowered myself back into my chair.
His story fit.
But I didn’t like it.
The sliding door moved.
Ah, fuck no.
Bella stepped out, her bare legs sticking out of the short robe she had wrapped around her.
It was entirely possible that this guy – whoever he was – would recognize her for what she was. Or rather, what she was supposed to be. If he had done business with Aro in the past, he most certainly knew. If he realized she was not a slave, he was going to be suspicious. If he got suspicious, Bella was in danger.
And I really, really didn’t want to dig a giant-ass hole for his body.
Aside from that, there was no telling who knew he had come out here to find me, a group of buddies nearby or not. Having him just disappear without understanding exactly who he was could be more deadly than killing him now. If I could convince him we could have a business relationship – which he really seemed interested in having – I could avoid the whole mess, and keep Bella safe.
But only if she understood that she had to play along.
I looked up to her and our eyes met. I found myself hoping she really could read my mind like she implied earlier, because I needed her to act like the slave she was supposed to be. There was only one way I could think of, aside from actual telepathy, to cue her in on what I needed her to do.
“I don’t recall giving you permission to leave bed,” I snapped at her. My eyes narrowed and I glared in her direction as her eyes went wide. I placed my gun in my lap, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it. “I thought you were supposed to come trained already.”
She was going to play along, right?
Chapter End Notes:
Oh Bella…can you play nice for Eddie? Will she be willing, even if she does realize what he’s trying to do, or is she still too pissed off at him to care?
I probably would have cracked my chin open on the keyboard if anyone had actually guessed the name of the guy who came to visit them. Actually, just knowing that name is some pretty Twi-serious trivia. No googling! Do you remember who Lee Stephens is in the books?
More tomorrow!
