A/N: Okay. The updating has been dismal. Between law school and two jobs . . . I keep forgetting. But no more. Like, three a week. For realz. Though we're more than halfway through the story, so it'll all end quickly. Apologies and for those that stuck with me: you rock. Fucking hard.

Day 6: Part 2

Revenge Isn't Nearly As Sweet As They Say

This was not good.

No, this was awful.

Awful and exhilarating and joyous.

Not because Jasper wanted me at his sub; the notion was . . . unnerving.

But because I was finally able to exact my revenge.

Tanya had collapsed on the floor and commenced blubbering, so panicked and distraught over the idea that she had betrayed Jasper that she was literally unable to move.

Which provided me with the most ideal set of circumstances.

I promised her she wouldn't get into trouble and asked where Jasper was. I expected resistance and screaming and something more aggressive, but she just pointed and mumbled something about the den in the north wing.

So I went.

I felt amazing.

It took me longer than I'd hoped to find the den, having explored very little of the sprawling mansion outside of my normal daily routine. And with it, my anger ebbed and flowed in a steady rhythm. But my mania, that special emotion that kept my heart pounding and my head feel light, continued to push me towards him.

And when I found him, the ebbing returned and bloomed into all-out rage.

I opened the door of the den and was rewarded with the loud thwacking sound it made as it hit the adjacent wall.

"Jasper," I breathed.

His legs were propped up on a dark wooden desk and he was reclining backwards in a chair I was sure cost more than I had ever collectively earned in my life. One of his arms, in a dark button-up made of some silky material, was up and behind his neck. The other held a cell phone to his head. When I approached the desk, he took the phone from his ear and waved it at me for a moment before replacing it.

"Yeah, I'm definitely not leaving."

I wasn't sure whether it was my expression or the dominating tone, but he looked at me for a moment before wishing the caller all the best and hanging up.

He dropped the phone on the desk and picked up a loose piece of paper. He began to read it before he spoke.

"I hope, for your sake, this is important, Bella."

I smiled that malevolent smile. "That's funny. Because I hope for your sake that what Tanya said in the kitchen isn't true."

Unfazed, he put the piece of paper down and picked up another one. I was close enough to touch him and I ripped the paper out of his hand. It tore a clean line and only a scrap was still held between the finger and thumb of his right hand. He carefully put the piece on the desk and looked up at me.

His lips curled upward. "And what did Tanya speak of to you?"

I wanted to scream. That grin, that one disgustingly simple expression that said everything any word he spoke could not, that held such complete and utter contempt for my existence, made me want to scream. Made me want to tear out his throat with my own teeth and jam the remnants of his jugular into his mouth and laugh as he choked on them. Made me want to hate him.

I froze, the contradiction of my words acutely painful as I replayed them.

Made me want to hate him.

I knew the expression my face held. It was the one that Emmett used when he had committed some massive relationship faux pas with Rosalie. That "oh, shit" look. The look that conceded the fight for him and was the definitive end to whatever argument preceded it.

It was the look of defeat.

Made me want to hate him.

Because, at this moment, I wasn't sure I did.

"You fucking asshole, Jasper!" I cried, slamming my fist on the table. I had to regain control and not let my internal monologue dictate the next few minutes of conversation. I had to do this, I had to get out of this fucking mansion with its ostentatious furniture and thousands of rooms. The unnecessarily expensive cars in the garage and the endless assortments of cutlery and foods in languages I'd never learn to know. I had to get out of here so I didn't lose myself in all of that.

I had to go.

He cocked an eyebrow but otherwise remained impassive.

"You can't just decide to make someone your sub, you presumptuous twit. And you can't tell your current sub you're doing it without informing the other person."

Now he froze. The beginnings of a smile fell from the corners of his mouth and his face became rigid.

"I see," he said after a long moment, but said nothing else.

"That's it? 'I see?' What kind of bullshit response is that?" I was in control again. I leaned forward on the desk, my fingers splayed painfully on its smooth surface. "Let me tell you a few things about Jasper. This is a guy, a self-assuming, pretentious dickfuck that preys on naïve subs who have a serious psychological condition that makes it impossible for them to function normally. He has devised an incalculably helpful set of methods that treats and then controls this psychological condition so the subs are again able to function in the outside world. And what I've seen, since I've spent a lot of time with Alice, is the depravity of the relationships you hold with your subs."

His eyes narrowed at her name and I laughed.

"Yes," I said. "You remember Alice, I'm sure. She's a devastated wreck because of you and while she no longer has panic attacks, she sure as hell isn't over the awful way you treated her." I cocked my head out the open door of his den. I lowered my voice to a whisper. "And Tanya, well I think we both know that Tanya's a little . . . stupid."

I waited for the expression on his face to harden, like it had over Alice. But when nothing changed, when he gave no indication that I had offended him, I grinned.

"Well, I must say that it's nice to have some sort of common ground with you." I paused and pulled a contemplative face. "The difference here Jasper, is that regardless of how badly I want a Dom, and how badly I want to get over this panic that absolutely controls my life, I would never let someone as disgusting and condescending and manipulative as you ever help me succeed in overcoming it. Because you disgust me. And I would rather choke on my own vomit during an episode than accept whatever it is you have to offer. Because knowing that you helped me accomplish anything in my life would both taint it and leave me feeling dirty."

He stared at me for a long moment after I finished. I tried to control my breathing and the lightheaded feeling that was making the room seem brighter than it was. He looked down at his desk and while the movement wasn't intentionally submissive, considering his chest puffed at the same time, a small part of me felt victorious.

Made me want to hate him.

I clenched my teeth.

"Enough," he finally whispered.

"Yeah, I'm already done," I said in a disinterested tone.

Then, many things happened at once. In the same instant, he slammed both of his palms on the desk and stood up so quickly that his chair rolled from under him and crashed into the wall. I took a step back the second his hands landed and at the same moment, Tanya appeared in the doorway. By the time Jasper had rounded the desk and began to stalk towards me, Tanya had disappeared from the threshold.

For every step he took towards me, I took a corresponding step back. Step for step until my back was pressed against the rough, uneven texture of a wall. My palms were flat against it, my head turned to the side. I tried to close my eyes, to let him hit my face without tensing and making the blow more painful, but was too afraid to even blink. I could hear the soft click of his expensive shoes on the wood floor and could smell his scent, a mix of sweetness, mint, and something a little more depraved as he approached.

On the wall to my left, where my head was turned, hung three different college diplomas in thick wood frames. On each was Jasper's name, the name of the corresponding colleges, and the degrees earned. Two of the diplomas, his undergraduate degree and his Ph.D./MBA degree, were from colleges far on the east coast. The third, his law degree, was from a school in England.

Made me want to hate him.

"Look at me," he breathed.

I shook my head.

"Look . . . at . . . me."

So I did. He looked otherworldly. His eyes, usually a dark gray color, looked black in the shadows created by the closeness of our bodies. The fire, the absolute rage in them caused a rupture of goosebumps across my arms and up towards my neck. Despite the heat of his breath and the angry fever of my own body, the goosebumps spread and remained erect on my body.

"Hit me," I whispered. "And then let me leave."

His mouth didn't move, but his eyes widened with amusement and his ears pulled back a little. I sneered at him.

"Hit you, Bella? Now, why would I want to do that?" His eyes flitted to my turned neck, noticing the goosebumps, and this time he did laugh. "Did I do that to you?"

"I wasn't kidding when I said you made my skin crawl."

"I see. Is there anything else I mistakenly do to your body?"

My palm cracked against the side of his face before I realized I'd moved it. All hints of amusement vanished from his face.

"Be careful, darlin'," he hissed. "I can do you more harm by my words than any physical act you can take against my body."

"Fuck you," I said and watched in amused disbelief as a fleck of spit left my mouth and landed above his upper lip.

With a quick movement, he kicked aside one of my ankles and I spread my legs instinctually. He pressed his hip against my torso and pushed my opposite shoulder to wall with his hand, successfully pinning me with his body.

My heart was thumping against my ribs with such tenacity I wildly thought that it might crack through the bone. A fever, hotter than anything I'd felt, spread through my body until every inch of it was wet with sweat.

I took a deep breath through my nose, preparing to scream, but the moment I opened his mouth, he cupped his free hand over my lips and my scream was muffled to the point of ineffectiveness. His pinky pressed painfully against the sheath over my nose and it was so acute my eyes watered immediately.

At the sight of my tears, Jasper's face morphed from a controlled anger into full-blown rage. His lips curled back over his teeth in a silent snarl and when the tears finally began to run ragged streaks down my cheeks, he pulled his hand away from my mouth.

I built up another breath, ready to scream, but stopped when his lips came crashing down to mine.