Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and the characters. I just enjoy messing with them.
Author's Note: Thank you to all of you who read and reviewed Getting You Home. I promised you all a continuation of Jasper and Bella's story and here it is. Please read, review, and enjoy!
I stared aghast at the reflection in the mirror. Who was this pale creature with the dark circles beneath her eyes? Lack of sleep and endless tears had taken its toll on me. My big brown eyes had lost their twinkle, their spark. They were as empty as my soul felt. There was no trace of the fiercely independent, unshakable woman I had always been. In a few short months I had gone from a confident, asservite, shrewd business woman to this broken creature looking back at me.
"We're like fire and gasoline, I'm no good for you, you're no good for me" Chris Young crooned from the radio on the bathroom counter. I promptly beat it against the floor until it was in pieces, yelling "Fuck you!" all the while. Stupid country songs. This was hard enough without hearing that shit!
All my life I had been fiercely independent. I didn't care what anyone thought of me, partly because my family so effectively dealt with "problem" people, but mostly because I truly didn't give a damn. I was fine alone; in fact, I preferred it. My first rule to live by was to not let anyone past my defenses. As long as no one knew the real me, I was safe.
It was a rule I should not have tossed away so easily.
I splashed water on my face and tried to pull myself together. This was something I'd been struggling to do for the better part of 80 hours, which was how long I had been awake. Forcing myself back to the bed, I curled up in a ball around his pillow. It smelled like him, which comforted me and tore me apart all at once. My eyes closed in an effort to hold back the latest onslaught of tears. All I could see was his face; the lazy grin, the passion and adoration in his eyes when we made love, then the fury in them when he took his love away from me. The quiet tears turned to body quaking sobs as I called his name over and over. The hurt was unbearable, I wasn't sure I would survive and frankly questioned if I even wanted to. Everything I had always wanted had been changed. By him. I screamed into the pillow, cursing the day I first laid eyes on Jasper Whitlock.