Better Things

Chapter 16

A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews. I love hearing your theories and what you thought. Off you go. Oh, and a huge thanks to Heather for her awesome beta skills.

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Saying she knew who it was, Alice had us all staring at her. When I finally found my voice, I managed to ask her who it was.

"Well, I don't know for sure, but I think it's either Bree, Jessica, or both."

"Jessica? Your cousin?" I asked, and she nodded. I'd never even entertained the notion that Jessica would be involved in this, but it certainly made sense. She'd been pining after Mike since forever, and she obviously still wanted him.

"What makes you sure it's them?" Edward asked her.

"Yesterday afternoon, I was coming back from Starbucks, and I heard a familiar laugh in the parking lot as I was getting out of my truck. I looked over and saw Jessica talking to Bree. I don't know what they were talking about, but they stopped when they spotted me," she explained.

"But how do they know each other?" I asked because it didn't make any sense to me. Jessica lived in Forks, and Bree was here in Seattle.

"I think they must have met through Lauren," Alice said, and Edward nodded his agreement.

"Lauren knew Jessica, and they got along quite well with each other, so it's definitely possible that Lauren introduced Bree to Jessica," he said.

I rubbed my temples as I listened to them, and I could feel a headache coming on. It made total sense that Jessica would be helping Mike. She'd been crushing on him since junior high, and they'd even dated at one point until he'd broken up with her. Even then, she'd still been crazy about him, and now, I was starting to think she was just crazy.

"Okay, so I see could Jessica helping Mike. She's stupid about him, but why would Bree help Jessica? What's in it for her? It would make more sense for Lauren to be helping Jessica, not Bree," I commented.

"Lauren's moved on," Rosalie commented. "She's dating some guy from a different school. However, Bree has a massive crush on Edward."

"What? Bree?" he asked, looking startled.

"Please, she's been crushing on you forever. It's pathetic. Anyway, we figure Jessica must have somehow convinced Bree that she could hook her up with Edward if Bree helped her out," Rosalie said.

"Holy shit," I muttered. "The two of them are fucking nut jobs."

Pulling out my phone, I dialed Detective Masen's number and got his voicemail. I left him a message telling him our suspicions about Jessica and Bree before hanging up. Hopefully, he'd talk to them and get them to confess to sending those letters and scaring me.

"I say we hunt them down and have a talk with them," Emmett growled.

"No," I told him. "We're going to let the police handle it. I'm positive that if Mike is lurking about, and if we mess with Jessica, he'll come after us."

We all talked for a while before saying goodnight, and I was sad that Edward was leaving to go to his room. I hated that our weekend had ended on a not-so-great note, and Edward seemed to notice. He wrapped me up in a huge hug and held me tight, whispering how much he'd enjoyed the weekend. I couldn't help but smile at him, and then he pressed a quick, yet hard kiss to my lips.

After I'd changed into my pajamas, I climbed into bed, exhausted. It had been a long, but wonderful weekend, full of sexy times and little sleep. Add the whole Jessica/Bree conversation on top of things and I was more than ready for sleep. However, Alice had other ideas.