Chasing Lia [Edward Cullen]

Chapter - 1

Lia groaned, wondering why she had agreed to go out with Bella and a few of her friends that evening. Going out was the last thing she wanted to do. Most nights, she preferred to stay at home, snuggle on the couch with her teddy bear, and drown herself in a bottle of wine.

Walking into the en-suite bathroom in her office at the posh company she ran, Lia checked her reflection. Her dark, wavy hair was cooperating for once. She framed her oval-shaped face with loose ringlets, the rest of her hair cascading down the middle of the open back of her gold sequined dress that reached her mid-thigh. She was not in the mood of fooling around that day.

She applied a hint of makeup, needing only a little eyeliner around her big brown eyes and some lip gloss. She rubbed lotion on her legs and finished the look with a pair of black wedge sandals that made her a bit taller than her five-eight frame. She took one more glance at the mirror before grabbing her purse and running out of her office into a waiting elevator. She nodded, smiled kindly and greeted the employees, as always and exited the tall, shimmering skyscraper and is instantly greeted by her very protective sister and the two brothers or bodyguards.

"Hey gorgeous," said Bella as she took in Lia's all dressed up form. Bella thought that her sister moved on fairly quickly and she couldn't be more happy about it. No one wanted to see Lia in the state that she was in when the angelfucker left her.

"Hey gorgeous, yourself," Lia responded, smiling at her beautiful sister. Her black tank top brought out the deep brown of her eyes, which looked beautiful with her mahogany hair. Although Bella was shorter than Lia by about six inches, only hitting five-five on a good day, her confidence made her seem so much taller. And not to mention, the werewolf in her was screaming for her mate, A.K.A. Jacob.

"Hey kiddo!" Alex, now a father of two year old boy, who he adopted from an orphanage to ease some pain of loneliness, exclaimed as Lia approached and greeted him with a hug & a quick peck on the cheek and he ruffled her immaculate looking hair. Lia said nothing but gave him an icy glare, to which he cowered mockingly. Lia rolled her eyes at his poor acting skills and smiled at Casper, who nodded kindly. Bella had been her rock for the past 5 years. She was the only family that could help her in coping with the pain of losing him. She couldn't count on her father and mother. The two sisters linked arms and walked the few short blocks to the bar. It was a beautiful evening in mid-August and the humidity that had been present earlier that afternoon had faded. The sun illuminated the tall buildings of the city Lia had grown to love over the past decade, casting the sky a beautiful pink color. A slight breeze blew through the air and all was right in the world. Lia actually looked forward to spending her Friday night with friends.

"I can't get too fucked up tonight," Lia said to Bella as they handed the doorman their IDs. "I have to get up early tomorrow before the heat hits."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say," Bella retorted. She didn't try to downplay Lia's working schedule, but she was worried that her sister pushed herself too hard, not leaving anytime for her to enjoy life. After all that has happened, she needs to get her head out of the files.

"I mean it. I've been slacking on my working lately." The girls walked into the brightly lit bar, the sound of people laughing and having a good time filtering though. Lia quickly scanned the huge room in order to locate her co-workers.

"You like all day long at work. You should take the weekend off."

"That's what Sundays are for. Anyway, I don't work all day," she informed her darling sister as she spotted a few of the girls she worked with sitting by the windows overlooking the street. Bella started in their direction.

MacIan's was a trendy bar in the Financial District of Seattle, Downtown Seattle that attracted many twenty- and thirty-somethings who worked in the vicinity. At six o'clock on a Friday night, the bar was packed with people grabbing a few drinks with their co-workers before heading home for the weekend.