Chapter Three

Edward's POV

Later that same night...

It was long after I had left the bar, having only had two pints of brown ale and nothing more, that I found myself slowly strolling down the blackened city streets towards my home located on the edge of town.

I definitely felt better after my time sitting at the bar, drinking quietly and paying no real attention to anything in particular.

For me, who constantly analyzed the biggest of circumstances right down to the smallest of details, not bothering to notice much of anything always came as a blessing.

Now, on the deserted street, I felt like my mind was once again my own as I listened to the soft sounds my shoes made against the inky stone and concrete that made up the sidewalk, my senses enjoying the overall silence and my troubled soul enjoying the solitude even more.

However, just as I had passed by the local bakery, I heard the strangest sound.

"...what the hell...?" I mentally questioned, my brows furrowing against the darkness of night as I darted my eyes left and right, trying to tie all of my senses into figuring out just what had made such an odd thudding sound.

For a reason I could not ever explain, I directed my steps towards where I thought the sound had came from, my thoughts intrigued, my senses positively stirring, as I steeled my resolve and gave into my unknown instinct to make sense of what had happened.

With lighter, quicker steps, I crossed the street, heading towards a narrow alleyway which lead along the sides of more closed shoppes and stores, none of them offering any light, as I immersed myself deeper within the bleary darkness.

Thud!

My eyes widened, my jaw tightening a bit as I distinctly heard the solid rapping sound once more, my stride slowing at first before I heard a messy, noisy crash tear through the still night, far too noisy to be a mere accident or the result of a stray animal as it echoed off the brick walls at either of my sides.

Suddenly, I was running...running towards these clashing sounds that disrupted by beloved peace, running towards something potentially dangerous, running towards something that could change my life...

"Jesus Christ, man...stop it already...look at him...he's had enough..." a gruff yet worried male voice met my ears, my depth perception able to tell that this person was located in a more open location and not tucked in between these walls as I was, such information telling me that I was about to come across the end to the alleyway and onto the next street over.

"Get off me...don't tell me to go easy on him...he's a fucking fag; he deserves to die..." another voice, another man, replied to the first speaker, this one sounding much more demanding, much more fierce than the other, as his sickening tone reverberated against the dead night air, chilling me.

My steps came to a halt, my eyes finally seeing light shining from a streetlamp overhead, as the white glow shone down upon two burly, middle-aged men, both of them clad in black and looming over a third figure...a smaller man who was not moving on the ground.

My eyes focused on the man lying crumpled on the dirty pavement, half-way slumping against the wall of a building for support, as he breathed heavily, and just barely lifted...his...curly...blonde...head...

My lips parted.

My breathing stopped.

Then, I was moving again...sprinting towards the two standing men.

My mind did not think, did not hesitate or fear or try to find a reason or a line of logic or even a shred of doubt, as I lunged towards one of them, ready to kill them both.

They had hurt Jasper.

These men...these fucking bigots had hurt the one person I desired more than life itself...they had...

My teeth grit in horrendous anger, a scratchy growl escaped my constricted throat as I drove my fist hard into the first man's large stomach, knocking the wind of him in an instant and surprising both him and his friend with my presence.

I did not wait, I could not wait to see any of them react, as my movements came easily, almost too swiftly as if such a thing was a regular activity for me, as I smashed my elbow across the side of the wheezing man's face, hurrying the blow so I may move onto the second offender.

Taking a giant step towards the stunned, second man, I bunched up the muscles in my legs, readying them to support my weight and spring into harsh movement, as I kicked him squarely in his chest, pleased whence I saw a small bit of vomit coat his lips before his eyes screwed shut in pain.

However, perhaps too caught up in my twisted pleasure of watching him fall to the ground in agony, the first man tackled me from behind at an awkward angle, jarring my back as he landed on top of me, already swinging his massive arms.

His fists connected two, three times to my face before I knocked his hands away and thrust my palm into his chin, slamming his bottom jaw upwards in a devastating blow that had his head thrown back, giving me an opportunity to push him off of me and scramble to my feet.

I could not even hear the many curses that these men were shouting at me, only my breathing and the strong humming of blood pulsing in my ears, as I slammed my fist into the second man's mouth, busting his lips and breaking his nose from such crushing impact.

Automatically, I reared my fist towards the other, hitting him firmly in his eye that him hollering out and dropping his guard, as he brought his own hands to shield his face.

More curses, endless fury swelled within this atmosphere amongst us all, adding color and pain and tactical thinking and then no thinking at all to overcome each one of us, as I received another hefty blow to my chin followed closely by another punch to my stomach.

This time, from perhaps my amount of pain starting to outweigh my racing adrenaline, I stumbled backwards, voicing my protesting muscles and bruised flesh, as I choked on my air for only a moment before dashing into action once more, knowing that I could not falter for too long.

My raised forearms blocked another punch before I expertly kicked the attacking man in his torso, positively feeding off of the way he instantly dropped to one knee and coughed haggardly for precious air, but I knew I could not let up now, not even if he was critically injured.

Another strike, another satisfying blow from my sharp knuckles into his already bleeding face, and I felt the snarling monster inside of me laugh hideously at the way he cried out for me to stop...

"God fucking damnit! Move, man...let's get the fuck out of here...fucking freak!" the other one of them spat out, latching a hand onto his friend's arm and forcing him away from me as the pair of them took off in some direction, still cursing, still fuming, until they were far enough away and all was eerily quiet once more.

My hands were shaking at my sides, my knuckles sore and bleeding, my cheeks feeling as they had been set on fire for a few minutes, and I simply did not move for a moment so I may even out my breathing, even out my life again.

A small groan of pain quickly snapped me back to reality, though, as my eyes lowered down to Jasper, my lovely vision of a man, as he struggled to sit up, one of his hands pressed against his side, as he kept his blonde head lowered.

I could feel my chest swell in anger all over again at such a sight, such deeds undeserved to him that had my heart breaking anew, as I took a few steps closer to him and then crouched down in front of him.

"...Jasper...hey...you're safe now...those guys are gone...they're gone...here...come here, sweetheart..." I spoke as softly as I had even spoken to another human being before, carefully reaching my hands towards him and helping him to lean his weight against me.

"...you're alright now...I gotcha..." I continued to murmur to my beautiful angel, slipping an arm underneath his back and legs and gingerly hoisting him up off the cold ground, feeling infinitely relieved that I was holding onto him as I was, that I had somehow known to come here...that he was clutching onto me so tightly right now.

Ferocious ache in my jaw be damned, I could not help but grin to myself as I cradled his lithe form close to my chest, looking over his messy curls and dirtied blue shirt in earnest graciousness, in inexplicable thanks to someone somewhere that Jasper was alright...and that he needed me so much in this moment.

This now, holding him...was worth whatever blows I had received from those men and more.

"...Ed...Edward...?" Jasper whispered against my collarbone, his melodic voice practically making love to my name, and I fought to contain the shudder that ripped through me a result.

A small smile graced my lips as I watched as his heavenly blue eyes looked up into my awaiting green ones, my previously broken heart mending itself upon seeing those eyes, those lips, that face, again.

"...I gotcha..." I repeated simply yet warmly to the sweet, perfect man in my arms, before I began walking towards the same alley from which I had come, heading back to my house, back to where I knew I could take care of him...where I could love him.