Disclaimer - Stephenie Meyer owns the Twilight Saga. Any characters and plots points associated with Twilight do not belong to me and I do not derive any financial gain from this story. No copyright infringement is intended

"Life isn't simple. But the beauty of it is, you can always start over. It'll get easier." Alacia Bessette

"I can't wait for you to finally come back to Chicago. I miss you."

Jasper chuckled at his fiancee's unusual show of affection. "I miss you too Isabella. Hey, I still have to finish my packing. I'll call you back, okay?"

"Okay," She sighed. "You'll be here soon anyway."

"Yeah and you'll become Mrs Whitlock soon enough. Love You."

"Me too."

The betrothed hung up on those words.

Even though it had been a little over two years since his engagement, Jasper still couldn't grasp the idea that, in less than a month, he would be married to Isabella Swan, his parents' friends' daughter.

When his parents had finally convinced him to ask her out some years ago, Jasper had not thought that it would have led him there at the time .

But now, he was happy, for he was about to get married to the most selfless, caring and beautiful woman he had ever known.

Isabella had been understanding when he had said that he didn't feel ready to commit himself in a serious relationship.

She had been understanding when he hadn't contacted her for weeks after their first date.

She had been understanding when he had suggested that their wedding should only take place after his being well settled in his career.

She had always been understanding; as he himself had been when she had told him that she wanted them to consummate their relationship only during their wedding night. Jasper had been frustrated at first but he had agreed nonetheless. Now he felt as if he were himself a virgin.

Furthermore, Jasper thought that it allowed them to have a deeper relationship, which would only be reinforced once they would consummate their union.

He wondered if Isabella had changed after all those months apart. A new haircut? A new wardrobe? Maybe would she be more affectionate.

Jasper resumed his packing thinking about his fiancee.

Upon his arrival, Jasper had had to take a cab to get to his abandoned flat. Isabella, who was supposed to greet him at the airport, had texted him the night before to inform him that she would not be able to make it in time.

Jasper understood as brides-to-be were always busy before their big day. Besides, he knew that he would get to see her soon since his parents had organized a small gathering to celebrate his return from months spent in Texas, where he had been sent by his company to prepare the opening of a new branch. There, he had been working relentlessly to ensure a promotion in the near future.

It wasn't excluded that he would have to move permanently to Houston to manage the branch and he had yet to discuss it with Isabella.

"...I was going crazy. Thankfully the manager intervened and everything was settled. Can you imagine what could have happened if we hadn't been able to book this reception room? It would have been a disaster..."

Jasper was barely listening to his mother's rants about the wedding preparations. He was too busy discussing the stock market, his eventual promotion and his work in Texas while caressing Isabella's neck.

"I wish Edward were more like you," his uncle Carlisle said. "All his partying, traveling... it won't lead him anywhere. And Esme fears we'll never have grand-children. But let me tell you," Carlisle looked toward his wife to make sure she wasn't listening to him. "I fear that I have tons of them running all around the world."

Jasper felt Isabella tensing a little while his father laughed whole heartily. He knew she was innocent and he had to admit that Carlisle's words were a little crude.

"Oh Carlisle, don't be so harsh toward him," Nelson, Jasper's father, said when he stopped laughing. "Edward has been working with you for some time now. I think he's got his priorities straight now."

"You know Edward," Carlisle sighed before taking a sip of his Chardonnay. "He'll get bored soon enough and get back to his old self."

"I think you're too hard with your boy here, Carlisle. I remember that you settled quite late yourself." Charlie Swan had had a soft spot for Edward ever since the latter had done an internship in the former's firm during his college years, so his defending his son's friend wasn't surprising.

After Isabella's father intervention, the men resumed their talking about the stock market.

Jasper didn't envy his cousin at this moment.

Edward was his aunt Esme and her husband Carlisle's only child so he had always been spoiled. Maybe because Esme had been diagnosed infertile during her teenage years and had never expected to be a mother, or maybe because Carlisle, who was close to being fifty when Edward was born, had always indulged in his son's whims. Jasper didn't know for sure.

But he remembered having been jealous of his cousin during his youth. Everyone wanted to be Edward's friend, girls threw themselves at him, he had good grades, good looks, charisma...

Jasper didn't know when the tendency reversed but it did. Suddenly he was the model child and Edward - who liked to party too much, brought girls at his parents' house and often ditched school - became the fuck up.

Edward and Jasper had a good relationship nonetheless. That's why Jasper had asked his cousin to be the best man at his wedding. Edward was taking his role quite seriously. He had already planned the bachelor party, which was to take place in a little less than a month, and had managed to find some of Jasper's long lost friends.

When the dinner was over, Jasper - ever the gentleman - escorted his fiancee at her place even if it only consisted in their following her parents' car.

The ride was silent, but Jasper didn't mind it.

However, Jasper wished she had kissed him good bye.

"So," Edward said extending his arm to hit the ball. "Happy to be back?"

It was Jasper's turn to hit the ball. "Yeah. Had a dinner in my honor last night. Why weren't you...argh... there?"

The two cousins had decided to meet up that morning to play squash, a sport they used to practice a lot together. But as they had not met up to play for a while, both were already tired and sweaty after an hour or so of playing.

Edward dodged the ball before answering. "I had some stuff to do. You know what? Let's go grab something to eat, I'm hungry. Besides, you're playing like an ass today." He added chuckling.

After their shower, Jasper noticed scratches - caused without a doubt by a woman's nails - on his cousin's back.

"Well, it seems like you had a wild night. So, this is the 'stuff' you had to do last night?" He laughed. "I can't believe you."

"What are you talking about?"

Since Edward visibly didn't understand what he was referring to, Jasper pointed to the scratches on his back.

"Oh that. That's nothing." Edward dismissed him.

"It sure doesn't seem like nothing. I'm sure she was kinky...Fuck is it normal that this is kind of turning me on?" Jasper joked. They both chuckled.

"Well, in a month my life as a monk will finally be over. I can't wait. Do you think Isabella will end up being kinky? I hope so..."

"I don't really want to talk about your sex life." Edward interrupted him. "Let's go, I'm starving."

"I heard that you're working for your father now."

Edward looked up at his cousin while taking a bite of his pizza. "Yeah."

"I don't understand. I mean, wow. The Edward Cullen, working? Why the sudden change of heart?"

A visibly embarrassed Edward answered. "It's not as absurd as you make it sound, you know. I'm 25." He sounded a little defensive but Jasper ignored that.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. I was on the verge of being engaged and I had already gotten promoted at your age."

"Yeah. We all know you're the responsible one." There seemed to have something in Edward's voice, something lingering in his eyes but Jasper disregarded it as well.

"So, how are things going with Isabella? Still at the stage of holding hands?"

"Very funny." Jasper replied. "What we have is something...deep, real. We don't need to have sex. I know that it must be difficult for you to understand this. What with a different woman each night."

Edward laughed. "You're exaggerating. It's at least a different woman aweek."

Jasper laughed along. "I can't wait for this month to end, I swear."

It's on this light mood that their lunch continued on.

When Jasper arrived at work on the following Monday, there wasn't any task waiting for him. His boss had meetings outside all day so talking about the advancements on the project in Texas was excluded for the day.

Jasper was bored.

He decided that having a long lunch with Isabella would brighten his day. Surely she could get away from work for two or possibly three hours to have lunch with her fiance whom she hadn't seen for months.

On that thought, he called her. He was sure that she would be a little weary to ask her line manager to have a little time off today. He felt a little guilty when he heard the reluctance in her voice. But when she agreed, he was glad he had called her.

Jasper passed the time between their hanging up and their lunch meeting throwing paper balls in his bin. He was growing impatient for his lunch-date with his fiancee since they hadn't gotten to spend much time together since his arrival.

However, lunch with Isabella turned out to be uneventful and hardly lasted an hour.

The rest of the day was painfully uneventful for Jasper. He was on his way out when he received a call from Edward.

"Edward, what's up?"

"Hey. Listen, I was just wondering if you've got something planned for tonight?"

"No, I haven't."

"Good. I think it'll be a good idea to go to a restaurant tonight. Isabella, you and I. My treat."

Jasper laughed, this call was definitely brightening his day. "Okay. You know I've never been one to decline a free meal. Count me in. As for Isabella, I'll call her to ask."

"Don't bother, I already did. She's coming. Pick her up at seven, okay?"

"Yep. See you tonight."

"See ya."

When Isabella opened her front door, Jasper was enthralled. It was like he hadn't seen her a few days before or during their lunch earlier. Maybe he hadn't really looked at her.

Now he could see that she was beyond gorgeous while he had only found her to be pretty before. Her hair was longer, the make-up she wore complimented her features and her legs were, well, perfect. He had always liked women with heels - high heels - he hoped it was something usual for his fiancee who seemed to affectionate flats.

When she cleared her throat, he thrust the red roses he had bought for her in her hand and muttered a quick apology.

She smiled slightly and told him she was ready to leave.

They arrived at the restaurant before Edward. Jasper wasn't surprised in the least though. Edward was more often late than not and, sometimes, he would even forget about his meetings altogether.

When Edward finally showed up, he was accompanied by a gorgeous strawberry haired woman whom he introduced as Tanya. Jasper wouldn't have expected anything less from his cousin. Always a gorgeous woman at his arm. This is what he would miss once he would be married, even if he had been in a relationship for years. Marriage made everything seem so final; as if there was no going back.

The two couples talked about nothing in particular during the first course of the meal and silence soon invaded the table. Jasper found himself massaging Isabella's neck. She seemed a little tense and he was trying to appease her.

The other couple was very affectionate. Jasper would have felt uneasy if it weren't for Isabella's hand now caressing his thigh. Her hand was drawing closer and closer to his crotch.

It had been so long since Jasper last felt the hand of someone other than him there. Therefore, he knew that he would never have the strength to ask her to stop or to push her hand away. He actually liked her unusual boldness.

He almost wished she would give him a hand job here, in the middle of a restaurant, with his cousin at the other side of the table.

Jasper was jolted out of his daze when his cousin started speaking.

"So Jasper. I didn't get to ask you about Texas. How was it?"

"It was okay." Jasper tried to be dismissive wishing his cousin would take the hint. He wanted to shout "Dropitdude!"

But Edward didn't seem to understand. "Oh, okay. And what about this promotion you couldn't stop raving about?"

"My superior wasn't at the office today so we didn't talk about it yet."

"Hm." Edward was still thoughtful. "I don't understand why you don't work in Charlie's company. I'm sure it would be easier for you to climb up the hierarchy since you're gonna marry his beloved daughter."

Isabella's hand was still caressing his thigh and Jasper had no intention to stop her. Absolutely none.

"I prefer succeeding by myself."

Edward scoffed but didn't say a word. He didn't need to. Jasper knew Edward's thoughts on the matter, that is to say that if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth you'd better make use of it. It radically differed from Jasper's opinion.

Tanya seemed to have had the same idea than Isabella because soon Edward was putting her hand on the table. He seemed a little irritated.

Jasper was also irritated even if it were for a completely different reason. It looked like Isabella wouldn't go higher.

"Joke aside. Do you know why I invited you tonight?" Edward's expression turned suddenly solemn.

"So that I could enjoy a free meal?" Jasper said trying to lighten the mood.

Edward chuckled. "No. It's about Bella. Isabella," Edward corrected himself. "But maybe she'd prefer to say it herself."

Isabella's hand froze on his thigh.

All eyes turned to a nervous Isabella. Jasper was a little pissed off at his cousin because he had already told Edward that she was extremely self-conscious and that she hated being the center of attention.

After some time, Edward spoke up thus preventing Jasper from intervening. "Well, she told me she wasn't satisfied about your honeymoon in Hawaii, something about it being cliche..."

He rummaged through his pocket and threw a manilla envelope in front of the betrothed couple.

"Here. I took the liberty of booking a room for both of you in one of the finest hostel in Florence. It's for two weeks so I think that the workaholic that you are will have to take two weeks of vacations instead of the one initially planned."

Jasper was so touched by this gesture that he hugged Edward to thank him.

"Wow dude, it's nothing. I may just be taking my part as the best man too seriously." Edward joked. "They are refundable. Just in case."

The rest of the meal was spent in a good atmosphere. Jasper didn't know when Isabella had taken her hand away from his thigh but he didn't care. At this instant, it warmed Jasper's heart that his cousin was so involved in his wedding.

"Jasper Whitlock."

"Hey. It's James, Edward's friend. Listen I had to run an errand for him and I don't think I'll be able to make it in time."

"Okay" Jasper frowned. He didn't understand why his cousin's pal would call him. Especially since they had never gotten along.

"Right. Well, could you go to his place and get it? Apparently it's really important, some shit about proving himself and a meeting..."

"Okay, I'll do it." Jasper said cutting James' rambling. "What do I have to look for?"

After having taken the keys that Edward had left at the lobby for "a blond man with whom I hang out often", Jasper took the elevator to his cousin's floor.

When he opened the front door, he didn't expect to be met with the sight of his cousin sprawled naked in the middle of his living room with a woman on top. Nor did he expect this woman to be Isabella, his fiancee who would, no shouldhave been his wife in almost two weeks.

He was so stunned that he stood frozen on his spot.

He was looking at his supposedly virgin fiancee fucking his cousin and the shock and hurt he had initially felt rapidly morphed into disgust and anger.

He felt disgusted because his cousin and best man whom he considered like a brother was sleeping with his fiancee. He knew that Edward could be an asshole and had done some questionable things but Jasper had never thought he would be one of his cousin's target.

He felt all the more angry and disgusted as Isabella with whom he had been for years, whom he respected and loved was betraying him in this way. The fact that she was straddling his cousin was worse than any other situation in which Jasper could have discovered them because she was obviously in control. She wasn't the innocent girl Jasper thought she was. She was a lying and deceitful cheater and, at this moment, Jasper knew that he couldn't see himself marrying her.

This scene would be marred in his mind forever. Jasper was about to leave but the mere thought of appearing weak made him change his mind. He would make his presence known and confront them.

Thereby, the 'lovers' – too engrossed in their current activities - only noticed him when he barged into the living room and began screaming.

Edward and Isabella were startled by this sudden irruption. Isabella had barely had the time to get up from Edward that Jasper was shouting in his cousin's face to get up. When Edward did so, Jasper punched him. Hurting his cousin clearly satisfied him greatly.

A desperate Isabella caught his arm to keep him from leaving. She was hugging Edward's shirt to her chest, a poor attempt to cover her nudity."Jasper, I can explain. Please, Jasper. It doesn't mean anything."

Jasper scoffed. "Explain? What is there to explain? Why you were fucking my cousin?" He glanced towards his cousin and was stunned to see that Edward was serving himself a drink, looking at him and Isabella as if he were enjoying a show. Jasper would have gone and beat his cousin's ass if it weren't for Isabella's crying and blubbering. But he couldn't find it in him to feel pity for her.

"Jasper," She seemed distressed but he wasn't going to console her. "I know we can work it out. Our wedding is supposed to take place soon. Please don't let that ruin everything."

Anger flared at him again. He made the mistake of looking her in the eye. They looked so innocent, one of the first things he had loved about her when they had started dating.

"It meant nothing." Her whisper coupled with her gaze almost broke his resolve to call off the wedding. He thought he might forgive her. But first, he needed to ask her a question, which would make it or break it.

"How long?" He said cupping her cheeks. They were wet and rosy from the crying. He knew it was wrong but he felt like if he kissed her then, maybe, everything would disappear. They would forget about this place, about Edward, about what she had done. It would only be the two of them.

But Edward spoke up and shattered Jasper's illusion. "Six months? Seven? When was it exactly Bella?" There was something in his voice. Bitterness?

Jasper didn't know nor did he care. He dropped his hands from Isabella's face. She sure knew how to manipulate people. It saddened Jasper to realize that he had been on the verge of marrying a girl he didn't even know.

"Well, I think our parents will be really happy when they will learn why this wedding can't take place." Jasper said sourly before leaving the place . He ignored Isabella's pleas and shrugged her off each time she attempted to grab him so that he would listen to her.

Telling their parents about his calling off the wedding hadn't been easy. Jasper hadn't had the heart to tell them what Isabella and Edward had done.

Edward hadn't tried to contact his cousin since the 'incident'. Jasper wasn't surprised as his cousin had always been irresponsible and insensitive.

As for Isabella, she had come at his place once not to beg him to take her back, since she knew there was no going back, but to ask him not to tell anyone about what he had witnessed. "It'd break my parents' hearts." She had said to which Jasper had only responded by a nod. He didn't want to talk for fear of expressing the disgust she inspired him. They parted on her muttering an apologize before she finally made her final exit from his place, from his life and hopefully from his heart.

Jasper's parents had tried to persuade him to reconsider things because they were convinced he had gotten cold feet. Even Renee Swan had called him once at his office. He still hadn't bulged.

The wedding was canceled. Everyone put the blame on him. Of course, the innocent Isabella was considered the victim, ever the passive one.

But to Jasper, her perfect little princess' mask was broken and so was his heart. Tired of his parents' constant nagging and of his friends' constant questioning, the young man seized the first opportunity arising to go back to Texas.

There, he wouldn't have to hear from them and to see them. He would be able to move on.

He hoped that when he would get to fall in love again, he wouldn't get burned again.

Because he still cursed the day he had first been burned.

A.N/ Banner on my profil