Mafia Princess

Chapter Thirty-Six

Twilight...not mine (sigh).

Chapter Thirty-Six

The weekend was fairly quiet in the del Cigno home. I used the down time to go to my apartment and 'put some things' into storage. Bella wanted to come with me, but I told her that I needed to do this on my own. She was hurt by my dismissal, but Angie called, wanting to go shopping. Emmett took them both to the mall and her need to hang out with me was hidden by her never-ending need to spend money like a drunken sailor.

Back in my apartment, I sent off my report to Carlisle. It was nearly fifteen pages when I was done typing it up. I was still gathering evidence on Charlie but my main focus now was on Aro and his behaviors. In my email, I received several messages from Carlisle. There was an encrypted file on Aro Volturi, James Cacciatore and the girl that was James, Victoria Miller. Aro and James both had served time in the same prison at the same time five years ago. Upon Aro's release and completion of his parole, he moved to Washington State. Aro had deep seated ties to the mob in Italy and some of his relatives were well-known mobsters in Sicily: Marcus and Caius Volturi were his cousins and both were deadly in their own right.

There was also information about the deaths of Renee del Cigno, John McCarty and Gregorio DiPinto. John and Gregorio were hits, simple as that. Renee's death was marked as undetermined. I'd have to further read her autopsy to better understand the cause of her death.

I saved all of the information onto my thumb drive and locked it in my safe, deleting the emails from Carlisle. I sent off a few personal emails to Esme, Carlisle's wife and my adoptive mom and Alice. I wanted to call them but it probably wasn't wise. The last thing I did was contact Rose via email. I needed to get the Mustang painted. Her response was immediate and she said that a friend of hers from college ran a garage just outside of where Bella went to college. She would make arrangements to meet up with me there on Monday to get the Mustang 'upgraded' using the money that I received from Charlie.

I finished my business at my apartment and drove back to Charlie's. I noticed that the Hummer was still gone. Bella and Angie were still spending their money. I used that time to go workout in the gym facilities in the basement. Shit, Charlie had some kick ass equipment. It was better than the gym I frequented when I lived in my condo in Bellevue.

When I was done with my workout, I went upstairs to my room to watch some television. I hadn't had much time to relax. I took a quick shower and lay down on my bed, idly flipping through the channels. I found some crime drama and settled to watch it when someone knocked on my door. "Come in?"

Bella opened the door, her arms laden with bags. "I come bearing gifts," she grinned.

"Bella," I admonished, sitting up. "You've really done too much. I don't..."

"Nonsense. I love shopping and I love shopping for other people. Why do you think my dad looks as stylish as he does?" she giggled, pulling out dress shirts, ties and more jeans. "If it were up to him, he'd wear sweats and t-shirts all of the time. I make sure he looks his best. I want to do the same for you." She smiled at me softly. "It's what 'girlfriends' do." She used air quotes around the word girlfriend.

"Yeah, we should talk about that," I said, running my hand through my hair.

"Do you not want to keep that up?" she asked, her brows furrowing deeply.

"Let me speak first before you jump to conclusions," I laughed nervously. "Look, your dad came and talked to me yesterday. He, for some odd reason, really likes me."

"It's not odd. You're a good man, Edward," she murmured, hanging up a sleek brown leather coat.

"Thank you," I replied, blushing slightly. "Anyhow, he likes the idea of 'us' as a couple." Bella turned and looked at me, searching my face. "Now, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you like the idea, too, right?"

"You're smart, you're loyal, you're hot...I definitely like the idea, but not if it's something that my father insisted," she growled, her temper beginning to show itself.

"He never insisted anything, Bella. He just 'gave his blessing,'" I explained. "I'm not going to lie. I'm not experienced with relationships. The touching thing kind of put a damper on any crushes any girls had on me."

"Are you a virgin?" she squeaked.

"No, but I'm not...my first and only experience was not pleasant," I blushed. "It wasn't even a relationship. It was just some random hookup and yeah, it didn't end well." I took a shaky breath. "Bella, if you're going to be my girlfriend and I mean girlfriend, minus the quotations, I want to do this right. Take you out on dates, hold your hand, hug you, kiss you...all of that cheesy romantic crap that everyone is toting." I looked up at her. "But it's going to have to be slow."

"I can do slow," she smiled, a smile that brightened her whole face. "Can I kiss you?"

"Not yet," I chuckled. "That is something I have yet to experience."

"You haven't had your first kiss?"

"No. The girl that I lost my virginity to was pretty hammered. She just grabbed, lined me up and slammed down on me. No kissing, cuddling or foreplay. Then, I got lost in a flashback and went limp," I grumbled. "She smacked me stupid and ran out of the room. Then, I picked a fight with some random guys, got my nose broken and nearly had my jaw wired shut."

"Jesus," she breathed. "How old were you?"

"Twenty." I patted my bed and she sat down next to me. "I feel like some sort of relationship retard but I want to try. I've been denying it since I first saw you at the club."

"I want to try, too. Can I kiss you now?" she giggled.

"Can I take you out on a date first?" I asked, arching a brow. "I may have had a shitty childhood but my foster family instilled a deep seated need to treat women respectfully. Also, I don't want to turn into what my father was, a drunk who beats the shit out of his wife and kid."

"Okay," she replied. "That makes sense." Bella leaned and put her head on my shoulder. "You're still going to be my bodyguard, too right?"

"As far as I'm concerned, no one is capable of doing it better than me," I murmured. "Bella, I don't want anything to happen to you and I will walk through hellfire to make sure it doesn't happen."

"Wanna go out tonight?" she asked eagerly.

"You really want that kiss, don't you?" I bellowed.

"Fuck yeah!"

A/N: No pictures with this but we got some pretty in depth conversation with Bella and Edward. He wants to try. Why deny the inevitable? Anyhow, Facebook, twitter...find me there...Tufano79. Leave me loving...it's better than FBI/Mafiaward wanting to try.

STBa;