Disclaimer: Anything remotely resembling Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Any of the stories within, belong to me. Please do not copy or translate without permission.

This is an outtake for Birds of a Feather that I had intended as a background for Chapter One BPOV.

Birds of a Feather

Chapter One

EPOV

A few hours before…

I'd never put much stock into the cliché sayings I'd heard growing up, but as I got older, I came to realize why they were so often used. Quite simply, they just fit.

There comes a point in your life where you figure out what really matters.

There'd been a time when making music with my friends and touring around the globe playing to large crowds had been surreal. Having thousands of people shout your lyrics back to you was one of the best, most intense feelings in the world. I loved music—creating something from nothing and putting it out into the world so others could feel the same way. For me, there were few things better in the world than that truth.

Somewhere along the way the adoration and success had begun to feel less like a party and more like a job that I dreaded driving to every morning. Jasper had been feeling it, too. We were burned out and creatively spent. Somewhere along the way we decided that maybe working behind the scenes in the industry was a way to still stay in the game while having an actual life not spent always on the go.

There was so much undiscovered talent out there including bands that were playing dive bars every week that deserved a break like we'd been given. The thought appealed to me on so many levels; knowing the way the industry worked, who better than two guys who'd navigated that world already to help the next generation?

It had all come together so quickly. Our lawyers were given the orders as soon as we reached the end of our contract, contacts we'd made over the years were approached with our plan—thankfully, our names allowed for those meetings to be mostly successful—and a team of people were borrowed with the help of our old label. The last bit still made me itchy, but we'd been working fast and needed to accept what help was available.

Hell, I hadn't even told my mama that we'd purchased property in Nashville for the studio and I was back in town hitting up a realtor for a place to crash.

Things were falling into place: we had a few acts in our radar, our space was ready to go and the music community was eager to see what we were doing.

And there was one act that interested me the most.

Sighing because I knew I was about to stick my foot in it—and was actually looking forward to the ensuing fight—I tipped back the longneck I'd been spinning on the countertop and looked around the room.

Jasper's new place looked like just that: a new place. Boxes lined white walls, furniture floated in the center of the rooms like icebergs. The kitchen was the most together of it all, and that wasn't saying much when a table, a few barstools and a good selection of liquor bottles lining a counter were all he'd done to make it inhabitable.

"Goddamnit, man. I thought I told you to go home."

I looked up as Jasper slung his leather jacket on the counter and opened the fridge to grab a soda.

I shrugged. "And I told you I was goin'."

He picked up his sunglasses and keys. "I can handle this. You being there isn't going to help win any brownie points with her."

If the last year was any indication about how she reacted to my presence, we'd be looking at a hellcat on fire. The fireworks would be worth it.

"Probably not, but I don't rightly care. If we're gonna do this, me and her are going to have to be in the same room eventually. Might as well get it over with now."

He shook his head. "You ain't right in the head. She's gonna flip the fuck out."

"So? It's business. I'm going to check out an established act. I'm a partner in this label and I have the right to see what I'm puttin' my neck on the line for. Besides, she won't even know I'm there."

"Dude, she'll freak if she sees me. Last time I saw her, she threw a bottle at my head. You don't have enough medical insurance to cover your ass for when she sees you, and you know damn well it'll just piss her off and make her say no before she even hears us out."

My sister had warned me of the same thing, but neither of them knew Bella the way I did. I'd married her, after all. She'd be pissed, that was a given. She'd threaten and rage and it was going to be an uphill battle, but she wasn't spiteful. Rose and Alice deserved a chance, too, and I just couldn't believe she hated me so much that she'd ignore the deal when they were involved.

About a month ago we'd been in the middle of making the small, abandoned factory we'd purchased for our studios more habitable when Alice had shown up with a raw demo tape. At that point, all I could recall of Bella's voice was that it was sharp and shrew-like, and often hurling insults left and right about why I needed to sign divorce papers and get the hell out of her life. But I loaded it onto my laptop while Jasper and I went over the plans after our contractors had left.

And I'd been blown away.

There was something there. Something beautiful and harmonious and exactly what I'd wanted to develop when I'd made the decision to start a label with Jasper. The girls had a way about them that even a rough demo with questionable production value couldn't mask.

The lyrics hit me, too. I wasn't sure if it was solely Bella's doing on that front, but I thought it might be. I recognized the subtle hints of her working through something painful because I approached songwriting in the same way. The words made me determined to give her something back when what we'd been through had taken it away. If it was the only thing I could do to apologize, I would.

My fingers tightened on my beer. Bravado won out over common sense, and I tipped the bottle back and finished it. . "If she does, she'll have to fucking get over it. This isn't just about her. I'm goin'."

"All right. But if she starts throwing things, I'm using you as a shield."

~o~

Being hometown heroes definitely had its perks. Mel, the owner of the bar, had already set up a side door entry for us so we snuck in and headed straight for the back of the bar. Fresh beers greeted us and we stood in a section where most of the lights didn't reach us. We watched as Mel took his spot on the stage to introduce the next act. An enthusiastic round of applause and cheers welcomed them to the stage.

My eyes immediately went to her. It'd been a while since I last saw her, and while she looked thinner and a little more tired than I remembered, Bella was still just as pretty as she'd ever been. Her legs were on display in a light green dress and cowboy boots, and I couldn't help but stare.

The set was good, better even than the demo, and they hadn't even gotten past the third song before I was nudging Jasper and nodding my head that, yes, we were going to sign them.

But I already knew that.

They belonged with us. We could do right by them, set them up with good production and a running start with our contacts in the business.

And, past the business side of things, I was insanely proud of Bella. I'd always thought she'd had a great voice, but there was a depth of maturity and emotion to the songs they played that made the music geek in me take notice, feeling in her tone that made me listen harder.

There were a few songs played that hadn't been on the demo, and those were ones I was absolutely sure were Bella's. I knew better than anyone that writing lyrics was a way to heal your heart, and the deeply personal fire of them was obvious. And I couldn't begrudge her that. One of the upbeat songs—sharp and witty and full of vinegar with a few jabs at an ex thrown in—was a crowd pleaser, and I took my eyes off the stage to watch the crowd's reaction.

The girls were loved. That much was obvious. It wasn't a typical open mic night crowd; they sang along to the words and shouted out requests, and if the reception at the bar was any indicator, we had a potential Next Big Thing on our hands.

"I like it," I said to Jasper when they took a breather and Rose started speaking to the audience. "They're good."

"That they are. Need some image work, and Bella needs to be a little more accommodating to the crowd, but there's something here."

I nodded. "Funny how she can hand me my ass on the regular, but she gets shy on stage." I watched her then, her head bent as she tuned her guitar and fiddled with the strings. I shook my head.

The woman was a damn conundrum. She'd had no qualms in hollering at me and telling me to get out of her life for the past year—hell, she'd always been easy to call me on my shit and I'd always delighted in poking at her to get that fiery reaction. On one hand, she could go toe-to-toe with Jake, but on the other, she was a weirdly shy front woman. Jasper was right about that needing to change if they signed with us, and I thought right then that I would probably let him handle that particular minefield.

Like I said, I liked poking at her, but I also liked having my nuts attached to my body.

They finished their set and I hung back in the shadows at the bar, watching as she moved to remove her guitar and talk to the audience members that approached the stage. She was all light and ease now, smiling and nodding at Rose and joking with someone I couldn't quite make out.

Seeing her happy juxtaposed sharply with the last image of her I held in my mind: sickly pale and lank-haired, her arms too skinny and clutched around her midsection. I'd tried. Did everything I knew how to get her to come back. She'd been nonresponsive when I'd left the house that day, and I'd just never gone back.

It wasn't my proudest moment, and it hurt to see that she'd gotten better without any help from me.

"Excuse me. Are you Edward Cullen?"

I turned from watching Bella and saw a small blonde next to me, her friend just over her shoulder. Jasper chuckled next to me and I shot him a dirty look.

"I am, but I'm off duty and enjoyin' the show." It was easy to slip into fan-mode, to smile easily so as to not piss anyone off. It was a side of the business that I hated, but playing nice in the current world of real time internet sightings went a long way toward a good image. I figured I had about ten to fifteen minutes before the bar would be hopping; the blonde's friend was already furiously typing something on her phone, and I would bet money she was on Twitter. "Y'all like the band?"

"Sure did. Hey, can we get a picture with you? I really love your music . . ."

She was rambling on and I was nodding along, not really paying all that much attention. When I sensed a break in her words, I said, "I'm sorry, really I am, but it's not a good time for pictures right now. It's about the bands on stage tonight, not me."

"Please? We came all the way from Dubuque. And we really love your music. Don't we, Natalie?" The brunette standing next to her nodded her head even as she typed on her phone.

"Incoming," Jasper muttered behind me, and I glanced over the blonde's head to see Alice cutting a beeline for us, her face as mad as could be.

Yeah, I really didn't want this conversation to go down in front of strangers with a 4G connection.

"Ladies, I really do appreciate it but now is not a good time."

Jasper grabbed a hold of Alice before she could lay into me, and bent down to whisper something—probably a warning about open ears—to her. Alice glared at me from around his shoulder, a warning look on her face that was only too easy to decipher. I swung my head back to the stage in time to see Bella's furious stare and knew I'd just fucked up.

I wasn't supposed to be there, had planned on her not seeing me at all before Jasper could speak to her. He was the negotiator in the plan and I was breaking Alice's rules in being here in the first place.

Fully expecting Bella to hop off the stage and march over to me with expletives flying, I groaned and ignored the fans, and then watched in shock when Bella said a few words to Rose, grabbed her guitar and left the bar area altogether.

"Damnit."

"You got that right, dumbass," Alice said. "I told you to stay away!"

"Edward, hey! Please, just one picture and we'll leave you alone."

I'd be damned if I was letting her get away mad. Not when I wanted to sign her, and especially not when I wanted to talk to her.

"Another time, maybe," I said to the blonde and pushed past her to make my escape.

Alice grabbed my arm and dug her nails in. "Don't you dare. Let her get her mad out before this blows up in all of our faces."

"I'm not goin' to be mean to her, Jesus. I just wanna talk to her." I shook her arm off and exited the building, heading for the side entry we'd entered. It led around to the parking lot, and I ducked my head and moved past the smokers congregated around the building.

Bella was easy to spot, mad as she was. She stormed across the parking lot, old guitar case in hand and head shaking back and forth. I followed after her, waited until her attention was buried in that big purse she always carried, and then stepped in behind her.

And, Lord, she was pissed. If I knew anything, I knew this girl in all of her moods, and the set of her shoulders and angry jittering of her body was a sign that clear and present danger was ahead.

And, God help me, but it made me smile. I hadn't engaged in a good old fashioned argument in way too long, and there just wasn't anyone in the world who could dish out insults quite as good as my dear old wife.

It'd be a challenge, there was no doubt about that, but I steeled myself for it and vowed that whatever happened next, I was going to make it right. Like I'd been thinking before, there came a time in your life where you realized what really mattered, and I owed this woman a chance at some sort of happiness.

The getting to it would be fun.

~o~

Song – Beautiful War—Kings of Leon

Many thanks to my writing partner and homie extraordinaire nicnicd for the beta-y things she does. xo