Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Freedom

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 03:

BPOV

We have been in New Orleans three days and haven’t seen much of the city except for Bourbon St. We went back to the Starlight last night and made another thousand bucks. This time I remembered. I was awake. For some reason I wasn’t as nervous as I was the night before. It seemed like I had done it before, which according to Amber I had. I found I enjoyed it. It gave me a power I had never had before. Being up on the stage with all eyes on me. I used to abhor being the center of attention. Maybe I was wrong. There was something about being up on stage and knowing every man in the room wanted you.

Amber of course was having the time of her life. It was like she was born to be a stripper. But the time to move on was coming. We had enough cash to get us around a little more. We had to decide where we were going to head to next. The crappy motel was getting old but at $40 a night it fit into our plans. After our shifts we would hit Bourbon St and get wasted and stumble our way back to the motel.

I met a guy in a bar last night. We were in the alley making out. He wanted to fuck me but I couldn’t go there. He got pretty pissed and tried to take what he wanted anyway. Even in my inebriated state I knew enough to be scared. Amber showed up out of nowhere and hit the guy. And then kicked him and continued kicking him while he was on the ground. I pulled her off and we ran. She ran, I stumbled. I was freaked when I got to the hotel but she was ecstatic. “That’s what living is B! That was a rush!” she told me.

The next morning I admit it did kinda seem cool. I was proud of her for saving my ass and grateful. I definitely did not want to lose my virginity in an alleyway to a guy I didn’t know. I also got my first tattoo on Bourbon St. It was two drama masks, but instead of one smiling and one sad, one is smiling and one is angry. I had enough of sad to last me a life time. I got it on my ribcage on my left side, sort of to my back. Hurt like a bitch. I’ve always thought that was a cool place to get a tat.

Amber was very happy with me. She convinced me to get my lip pierced. She said it would help me be less perfect. I admit looking in the mirror it was worth the pain. I liked it. It’s something the old Bella never would have done.

“So where we heading B? We’ve been here too long.”

“We’ve been here three days.”

“Yeah and that’s probably our max. If we don’t want to be found we need to keep moving.”

“Who the hell would be looking for us?” I wondered.

“Will let’s see B. You got your police chief dad, your werewolf best friend oh and the guy who says he is your soul mate. You don’t think they may search?”

“They have no way of finding us.” I told her, not worried in the least.

“Which is why we need to keep it that way. Besides I’m bored. Let’s go to Miami.”

“Okay let’s pack up our clothes and ride.”

So we left New Orleans behind after three days and two nights. Two very productive nights. By nightfall we were in Mississippi. We stopped at a rest stop outside Biloxi and pulled out our tent. Even though it was only eight I fell asleep. I had never been so tired in my life but I felt good. I had done things over the past four weeks that I never would have thought I could do when I lived in Forks. If only Edward could see me now.

Paul POV

“What’s up Jake? Any news?” I asked answering my phone on the first ring.

“Yeah man. Charlie said New Orleans PD ran a bike plate outside a strip joint called the Starlight Gentleman’s Club on Bourbon St. By the time they got to the station they realized it was Bella’s bike and not the guy it was registered to. They came back but it was gone. This was last night. Charlie is freaking out. She is either in New Orleans hanging out at a strip club for some reason or somebody stole her bike and was hanging out there. Either way, you need to get there. Where are you?”

“I’m in Texas, but I am heading that way. I seem to have lost her trail but it looks like I made a left when I should have made a right. She is staying along the Gulf Coast. I’ll let you know what I find.”

This makes no sense. What would Bella be doing in a place like that? One way to find out.

I arrived in New Orleans at the establishment in question 11 hours later. Walking in I have to say this place is seedy. No way was Bella here. I asked for the manager hoping he or the bouncers would most likely recognize her.

“Hell yeah I know her. That’s Amber. Girl made a lot of money here for two nights and up and left. Hated to see her go.”

“What do you mean she made a lot of money?”

“What the hell do you think son? You a boyfriend or something?”

“Something like that. She’s a missing girl and her father is a chief of Police in Washington. It’s important that she is found.”

“You ask me boy, that girl didn’t want to be found. When she told me she was leaving she said something about staying in the South. How long ago was this picture taken?”

I really didn’t want to give this asshole any information but I need info so…

“About 8 months ago.”

“Well that ain’t her now. Now she has blonde hair shoulder length. She has her lip pierced and her nipples pierced. She has a fresh tattoo on her side and a tattoo that covers her upper back red and black. Says Freedom in red in front of two black wings going from shoulder to shoulder. Also has her belly button pierced.”

“How the hell do you know all this?” I asked. I had to know.

“Son ain’t nobody in this club gonna forget what she looked like for a while. She was something to remember.” He laughed. He laughed. I can’t hit him. I can’t hit him.

“She give anyplace specific she might be heading?”

“Nope, but I overheard her asking some of the girls the quickest way to Miami.”

“Thanks.”

When I got outside I ran to the car and drove out of the city. The thoughts of what I just heard about my mate kept running around and around in my head. I pulled over to the side of the road when it looked safe and ran into the ditch. I stripped behind a tree and phased. I had too. The minute I phased I heard Sam in my head.

‘What’s going on Paul?’

I showed him what I found out.

‘That’s not good Paul. We really need to find her and bring her home. I’m not sure what’s making her act like this but that’s not Bella. There has to be more to this story. You also need to know we are pretty sure Cullen is looking for her. He hasn’t been seen in a while. Victoria is still trying to get through so we guess she hasn’t figured it out yet.’

‘Great, thanks for the info about Cullen. I will keep my eyes open.’

‘What are you going to do now?’

‘Keep heading South until I hit Key West I guess. If I drive all night I should be able to catch up to them eventually.’

‘Paul what if you find her and she doesn’t want to come back?’

‘She has too Sam. She has too.’

Edward POV

This is beyond ridiculous. I have been following that mutt for three days now. He is so obsessed with finding who he considers his mate that he hasn’t even noticed. I have heard everything, including the vile comments from that club manager. He must have been talking about someone else. But the picture in his head was of a girl who looked somewhat like Bella. She must have had a mental break after I left. The strain of my leaving was too much for her and she snapped.

Miami is going to be difficult for me to move around. I had best get a move on before Sun up so I can cover as much ground as possible.

I have to fix this. I have to make her understand that I still love her. I never should have ended things the way I did. I will find you Bella, and I will bring you back to me.

BPOV

We were sitting in a motel in Gulf Shores Alabama watching some Quentin Tarantino movie on HBO. I felt very strange. Amber had convinced me to try Ecstasy. I was hot but my body felt electric. She slid over to me and started tracing her finger over my abdomen.

“Feels amazing doesn’t it B?”

“Yes.” And it did.

“I have a surprise for you B.”

“What’s that?”

“You remember the cute guy at the check in counter?”

“Yes.”

“He’s outside. You’re going to have sex with him. You want that don’t you? I will be here the whole time in the corner watching okay?”

Between the vodka and the Ecstasy it seemed like a good idea. I was so turned on. I heard the door open but didn’t look up. I felt lips on me and my clothes being tugged off. I turned my head and saw Amber sitting in a chair in the corner of the room watching me. She was smiling. I smiled at her. I felt his hardness between my legs. At least my mind registered he had a condom on. I prepared myself for the pain but it never came. Instead I felt this delicious friction. I heard him moan my name.

“Amber”

Wait what? He called me Amber’s name.

“My name is Bella, that’s Amber.”

“Who?” He looked up and at Amber. She sat there smiling at me. He shrugged his shoulders and said “Maybe you shouldn’t take so much Ex next time Amber.”

I shut up and enjoyed the pounding I was receiving. This was nothing like I had heard a first time was supposed to be like. There was no pain involved. As a matter of fact I was pretty sure I was about to have my first orgasm. He started moving faster and I felt him swell in me. A pressure was building and I felt like I had electricity all over my body. His hands moved to my ass and gripped it tight. I felt an intense wave of pleasure all over my body. I tensed and then relaxed and felt like Jello. My legs were shaking. He flipped me over to my hands and knees and entered me again. I could feel his balls slapping my ass. He reached around and pinched my clit. I came again. I threw my head on the bed and bit the sheet. I felt him come. Oh my God…

Paul POV

I stopped at the rest stop and could smell she had been here not too long ago. I also smelled leech. Cullen. He is following me. It doesn’t matter. When I find her she is mine.

BPOV

I woke up feeling great. Tommy, the check in guy who was over last night was gone and it was just Amber lying next to me, smiling.

“How do you feel sleeping beauty?”

” I feel really good.”

“You were wonderful last night. I had fun watching you.”

“I don’t understand something. That guy couldn’t see you. He kept calling me you. Why did he do that?”

“Why do you think he did it? What reason would he have for thinking you were me?”

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do. Think really hard.”

I thought about the last few weeks since I met her. I saw her getting a tattoo on her back and having her nipples pierced. I remember waking up the next morning sore. I remembered….

“No”

“Yes”

“You’re not real?”

“Of course I’m real beautiful. I’m you. I’m as real as you are.”

“No, you screwed that guy at the bar.”

“Actually you screwed the guy at the bar. Or we did. Either way he didn’t care.”

“No, I wouldn’t do that.”

“B of course you wouldn’t. That’s why I am here. You brought me here to do the things you couldn’t do. To be the woman you wish you were. The kind of girl that does whatever she wants and doesn’t give a damn. Everything you haven’t been and haven’t had the guts to change. Look at your back if you don’t believe me.” I turned my back to the mirror and looked over my shoulder. There it was. Freedom. I reached for my breasts and felt the metal rings hanging from them.

“What have I done?”

“What have we done? Don’t turn into a pussy on me now B. We were making a lot of progress. You were becoming the you that needed to come out. Namely me. And let’s face it B. You weren’t much more than a doormat before you left Forks. Bringing me forth was the best thing you have ever done.

“My first time. It was with that guy in the tent.”

“Yep, hurt like a bitch for a minute too.”

“How many times did I strip?”

“Only a night in Austin and two nights in New Orleans.”

“But I watched you strip.”

“Sometimes you imagine yourself watching me when something is going on that you can’t handle. Nothing to be ashamed of. That’s what I’m here for. But eventually you are going to have to become me, unless you want to go back to being a doormat.”

“We had sex. I felt you.”

“It’s called masturbation B. Something you needed to do a lot more of before I came along.”

Oh My God. What is wrong with me?

“I don’t want to be you. I want to be me.”

“No you don’t.”

“Yes I do.”

“Then why am I here? I certainly didn’t create an imaginary friend.”

Good point.

“But I’ll disappear.”

“We are the same person B. You just need to let me drive for a while. Get you where you need to be. Straighten out this mess your life is.”

“Drugs, sex with strangers, stripping? This is what you call getting my life in order?”

“It’s better than the life you had. I mean you weren’t in a good way B.”

“How do you figure that?”

“You made an imaginary friend, a hallucination that to you for the last month or so, has felt completely and totally real to you. Does that sound like a sane person?”

Good point.

“So what do we do now?”

“Watch me B. Let me carry you like I always have. Who is stronger B? Me or you?”

“You are.”

“Then let me be strong.”

I heard a knock on the door. I wonder if Tommy was coming back for seconds. I wasn’t in the mood. I opened the door and who stood their but my infamous imprint.

“Bella, thank God I found you.”

“Number 1, my name is Amber. Number 2, who the hell are you? And Number 3 who the hell told you it was okay to look for me? Stalker much?”

Paul POV

This is worse than I thought. Bella has opened the door butt naked. Her eyes look very old. Her body is covered with piercings and tats just like that damn club manager said. Despite this she looks so good. She hasn’t been eating right. She has no extra weight on her.

I was about to say something until I heard a voice behind me I really didn’t want to hear.

“Bella put some clothes on!” Fucking Cullen.

Amber POV

Time to put these fuckers straight.

“Listen I’m guessing tall dark and handsome here is either Jake or Paul, the mystical soul mate Bella is supposed to have. And I’m guessing pale emo guy is Edward? I wasn’t expecting you. Bella said you left. She said you wouldn’t be coming back. Now if my nudity is bothering you don’t look and don’t knock on my door or come running up and tell me what to do.”

“Bella something is obvious very wrong with you. You need to come home with me.” Eddie informed me.

“You’re not listening. Bella is not here. She has gone away for a while. She doesn’t want anything to do with either of you. If you thought you were going to come here to drag me back to that hell hole called Forks you are out of your mind.”

“Bell.. Amber you need to come back with me. The reason this is happening is because of being away from your imprint. That’s me.” Paul said. Damn he looked good.

I had to laugh at that.

“Imprint? I remember you, ya know? I have Bella’s memories when she feels like sharing them. She hated you. You hated her. What do you want to do Paul? Take me to your teepee and have me birth your babies and cook the buffalo you bring home? Do you think you own me Paul because of this ‘Imprint’? You stupid fucker nobody owns me.”

Edward decided to speak up. He spoke very slowly as if I couldn’t keep up. “Amber, Bella’s dad is very worried about her. He wants her to come home.”

I spoke slowly back to him. “Edward if Bella wanted to be there she wouldn’t have left him in the first place. Besides if I understand right there is an obsessive vampire in Forks who wants to drink Bella’s blood.

“I will not let Victoria get to you Bella. I swear.” Edward proclaimed.

“I was talking about you Eddie.”

I heard Paul laugh but Eddie had my attention right now.

“Why are you back? I understood you promised Bella you would not come back. Can’t keep your word? Not much of a man are you?”

” I can’t live without you.”

“From what I understand I don’t believe you live at all. So what you expect Bella to be all forgiving and run into your arms? You gonna change her into a vamp?”

Paul finally spoke up.” No Amber, he is not. That would be breaking a treaty wouldn’t it Cullen?”

“Hey cool a treaty. You guys smoke a peace pipe to seal the deal or what?” Speaking of if we are going to continue this conversation we should probably do it inside the room since I don’t want to get busted for indecent exposure and have to blow a cop to get out of a ride downtown.”

Wow I made them both growl. They walked in and both started sniffing. Rude.

“Yeah I know the place smells like sex. LaHote you want a joint? I’m going to have one.”

“I really want to speak to Bella.”

“Bella is gone, if she wanted to talk to either of you assholes she wouldn’t have told me to take care of it. It being you two assholes.”

I rolled and lit a joint and felt much more relaxed as the familiar smoke glided down my throat.

Edward had a look of horror on his face. LaHote had a look of worry.

“So sell me your pitches? You gonna kidnap me and watch me every second of my life to make sure I don’t run from Forks? Which by the way, I will cut you LaHote if you try it. Cullen I’m pretty sure I can find a cigarette lighter and a can of hairspray if I need to. At the very least I can burn down your home. I bet you vampires aren’t great at fire fighting are you?”

“So sell me. Tell me why I should give either of you two asses the time of day?”

Paul POV

“Bella I don’t know what you know about imprinting but it can wonderful. I will never leave you. I will never look at another woman. I will love you unconditionally…”

“Stop right there LaHote. Call me Bella one more time and me and my bike are heading to the nearest police station to report two stalkers. Now what do you mean you love me unconditionally? If that was true you would have loved Bella and Bella isn’t here anymore. Even if Bella was she isn’t the same as you last saw. So tell me how can you love her or me?”

“The imprint”…

“Oh yes the famous imprint. Wolfy magic. It makes you love the imprint right?”

“Well yeah…”

“So without the imprint you would have kept hating Bella the leech lover right. Poor girl never did a damn thing to you and you treated her like shit. When did you imprint on her?”

“The first time I saw you… her.”

I hoped I could make her understand this.

“Wait a minute. You imprinted on Bella the first time you saw her and you still treated her like shit?”

Uh Oh.

“I didn’t think I was good enough for her so I tried to fight it.”

“You didn’t think you were good enough? So you treated her like a piece of garbage and made her feel like she wasn’t good enough. Course you know something about that don’t you Eddie. Maybe you two should have a relationship.”

Edward POV

I don’t know what to do here. Bella looks horrible. I mean she is beautiful but she looks like a tramp. At least she put some clothes on while talking to us. If you can call it clothes.

“Edward?”

I had to call her Amber. In psychotic episodes it is important to not argue about names.

“Yes Amber?”

“Why should I go home with you?”

“I love you.”

“You don’t know me. Do you know that I like weed and coke and Esctasy. That I stripped at not one but two bars? I’m pretty damn good at it. That I have had sex with no less than 3 guys in the past month and I couldn’t tell you there names?”

“Amber don’t you realize how dangerous that is?”

“No worries Cullen. I keep condoms on me.”

“You could have been raped.”

“I almost was. Actually Bella almost was. I kicked the shit out of the guy. I kicked him so hard I bet he never has sex again.

Now back to the question. After how you left her why would she or I for that matter want you back?”

“Love I lied to you that day in the woods. I had to lie or you never would have let me go. I didn’t realize the mating bond was so strong. I need you in my life. I think these changes you are going through have to do with our distance from each other. I think if we were together the symptoms would lesson.”

Too late I realized what I said.

“I’m a symptom am I?”

“I didn’t mean that”

“Oh I think you did. But you are right in a way. The reason I am here is partly your fault. Bella was tired of being a doormat. So here I am. That’s what you don’t understand. I am real. And I am not going away. Bella has graciously agreed to take a backseat to me. Do you know why? Cause she doesn’t like either one of your asses and doesn’t have the guts to tell you. But I have no problem with it.”

I don’t know how to fix this outside of kidnapping her. But I can’t change her here. The change would permanently freeze her like this and not the sweet loving Bella I want. My Bella. And kidnapping would make it even worse. Amber would become stronger and see me as a threat.

“Edward?”

“Yes Amber?”

“Last night Bella did Esctasy and fucked a guy senseless right here on this bed. That was her not me. She was already on her way to giving herself to me. You two assholes just moved the process along. Do you still want Bella now?”

I was angry but angry at who? This was Bella. She did this to herself. Of course I am responsible. Dammit the thought of her and another guy… “I just want Bella back.”

“Not gonna happen, champ. And if you try to turn us into a vampire we will rip you apart when we wake up and hunt down your family no matter how long it takes.”

Paul POV

Well that is a relief. At least I don’t have to worry about her wanting to be a vampire. “And Paul?”

“Yes?”

“I want you to leave here as well. It’s time for you to go back home.”

“I can’t leave without you Bel… Amber.”

“Kidnapping and transporting across state lines is a federal offense, and I would press charges. How do you think your wolf would like being in a federal prison? Besides doesn’t a wolf have to do whatever an imprint tells him?”

“Yes”

“I want you to leave. I may come back one day to settle some scores in Washington but it will be when I am ready.”

Amber POV

I watched them walk out, heads hanging. I held my laugh in until they the door was closed and continued to smoke my joint. I turned towards the bathroom to go get a hot bath ready and saw my B laying there. On the bed. She had a tear in one of her eyes.

“What’s wrong baby B?”

“I just can’t understand. Why did Edward come back? Why did he lie? And Paul. Paul doesn’t love me. He wouldn’t love me without some mystical magic. Apparently Edward is attached to me and that’s the only reason he came back. Why can’t I have guys who just want to be with me for me?”

“Baby we don’t need them. We have each other. You will always have me. Stay with me and I will take you places and show you things you never dreamed of. So where do you want to go next? Still Miami?”

“No, I want to go to New York City. I’ve never been”

“Then that’s where we will go baby B.”

Bella is going to give control of her life to me. Even if I have to drag her kicking and screaming she will become me. It’s what is best for her. For us. For me. As for the two asshats that just left I’m not stupid enough to think they are going to go home. They are going to follow me. Stalk me. May as well give then a show.