It was a chilly, frosty morning; cold enough to see your breath in front of you as you breathed out. The ground was covered in a white glaze, and yesterday's leftover puddles had frozen over. Typically the day my truck had decided to take a nap, forcing me to walk two miles in the bitter cold to school.

I walked along the road quickly, keeping a brisk pace with the beat of my iPod. Absent mindedly, I tugged on my sleeves, shielding my now purplishly decorated skin from view. I was running out of excuses for him now.

Flashback

"Bella?" Jacob called from the living room to me

"Yeah?"

"Bring us in another beer, babe"

I grabbed yet another Carling from the side." Anybody else need anything?"

"God, Jake, you've got this one well trained,"I heard Quil tease. The rest of his mates snickered. I glared in Quil's general direction as I walked into the living room.

"Yeah, she knows not to cock up," Jake replied, kinda smugly, reaching towards me. Yeah. Yeah, I did. I outstretched my arm, handing him his beer. But instead of taking it, he reached around me and unexpectedly pinched my ass.

I jumped, throwing his beer down his new shirt. Silence echoed around the room as anger flashed in Jacob's eyes.

"You stupid little…"

He punched my stomach and I flew backwards into the coffee table. He leered over me, then began pounding me over and over again…

End Flashback

There'd been quite a few other incidents like last night's. It'd always been put down to alcohol, or showing off in front of his mates. Control issues, maybe. I'd even considered an evil twin.

But now, I was at the conclusion that it was just Jacob. The way he was. He'd always apologize, kiss every single one of my bruises, tell me he'd never do anything like that again and all that crap. Problem was I'd always listen to him.

Why did all the men in my life want to hit me?

Well. Not all of them. Just my dad, my new step father, and my boyfriend. Which is pretty much all of them, excluding teachers and my older brother Jasper.

Jasper was awesome. Him and me had moved back to Forks when Mom remarried and Phil had gone total apeshit on me. His twin, Rosalie refused to come with us. She'd always hated me, and was convinced I had taken mom away from her. I felt bad about taking Jasper away from his own twin, but he always assured me there was no love lost. It was pretty amazing timing actually: our dad had died and left us the house. We were over the moon.

Oh, and we were obviously grieving due to the loss of our dear father. Not. Fat prat had that heart attack coming. But it gave me a good reason to stay off school for a while.

School happened and passed without much to report. I spent the majority of the day thinking of ways to break up with Jacob without him killing me. It was difficult stuff, like math or some shit. The rest of the day was spent turning down dates from my fan club, as I referred to them. But, if I was gonna be single soon, maybe I'd start accepting some of these invitations. Hmm. That was gonna need some thought.

Jasper was working late, and then was going to his girlfriend Alice's. I'd planned on asking his advice on the situation, but it could wait. I'd need to think of a reason for the break up too. Jazz didn't know about the whole Jacob/abuse shitload. Jake said he'd kill whoever I told, and I was pretty sure he was capable of that.

It was raining as I walked out of school. Perfect. I was soaked to the bone by the time I reached our street, and as I did I almost turned back round again. Jacob's car sat on the kurb outside of my house. Seriously, karma can be a pain in the ass at times. Though quite what I'd done to deserve it I wasn't sure.

Jacob saw me walking and hopped out of his baby, running towards me. I fought the urge to run away, and plastered what I hoped was a happy grin to my face.

"Hey, babe," Jake said, briefly pecking my lips before taking my bag from me and helping me into the house. "Why didn't you call me, I'd've come picked you up."

"Oh, I don't wanna bother you when I know your working, hon" I simpered in a sickly sweet (fake) voice.

After dropping out of school last year, Jake had converted part of his dad's backyard into a garage and made a good living fixing up folk's crappy cars. He'd given me my truck when we first moved here, and Jasper loved him cause he hardly ever charged when he serviced his slightly unreliable Bug.

"Don't be daft," Jake muttered, pulling me towards him. He was rather irresistibly warm. "Ugh, Bells, lets get you out of these wet clothes."

I changed, and started cooking some dinner. Jacob settled himself on my couch, glued to my TV. Not for much longer, I thought to myself. Where the hell was my good for nothing brother when I needed him?

As if my question magicked him, Jasper came bounding through the front door.

"Hooooooonneeeeeeeeeeyy, I'm hooooooooooooomeee!"

I giggled. It was impossible to be moody or depressed or worried about anything when Jasper was around.

"Hey!" I greeted him as he pulled me into a hug. He squeezed. Tightly. I winced slightly. "How was your day?"

"Great, thanks, Bells," His eyes strayed towards the TV. "Yours?"

"Awful, my drug dealer can't get my shit for another three days, and that STD test I took came back positive."

"Oh. Good." He walked away from me and plonked his ass onto the couch next to Jacob. I didn't have to make conversation with either of them for another forty minutes, until the game ended. Living in Forks was a lot like having my own place sometimes.