Disclaimer

This chapter touches on some sensitive topics such as abuse and past traumas that could become triggers for some. If that isn't something you are looking to read in this chapter I would recommend waiting until the next chapter...however this is a (very mature) story in general so y'know, please tread cautiously. Take care of your well being first, lovelies x

Also, re-uploaded this chapter due to some error pointed out to me, sorry!

Chapter Seven

Jasper

"My father was an addict," Bella says, hugging her knees to her chest after she sat up and leaned against the headboard. There were still tears in her beautiful chocolate brown eyes as she kept them trained on the stitching of the blanket and it takes a great amount of willpower for me to not wipe all her tears away.

"After my mother passed away, he couldn't cope so he turned to whatever he could to take the grief he had away. I was ten when he stopped coming home, only showing up occasionally when he needed money."

"The first time he overdosed, I was twelve. Paul had found him in the backyard when he was playing. He was too young to remember what happened but for a child to have to see something like that..." Taking a moment to look at us to see our reaction, she looks back down at the covers on her legs.

"I think that was when I realized my dad...wasn't my dad anymore. As soon as he got out of the hospital he disappeared again. I called my grandmother when he didn't show up for two weeks and she took us in." She says, her voice shaking, practically inaudible and her eyes filled with haunting memories I could only imagine were replaying in her head.

I could feel Peter grow anxious as he ran his fingers through his hair but neither one of us said anything. We wanted Bella to share what happened to her.

I couldn't put together why I felt this way about a girl I've only just met but when I saw the bruise on her face last night as well as the fear in her eyes when we saw the wreck in her apartment - something in me needed to make sure she would be okay - safe.

"I didn't see my father for five years after that and then he just showed up one day, acting as if nothing happened. For a while...he was sober and he made an effort to be in our lives, in Paul's especially. But my grandmother wasn't convinced it would last so in her own way she would keep me grounded, to not get my hopes up and she was right. I remember I came home one day after school and I found him on the kitchen floor just...gone."

I tensed up the more I hear about Bella's horrible childhood. The more I looked at her, the more I can see the light in her eyes dim, pain and disappointment riddling them. But I knew that wasn't all of it - I had been in the business of crime and death for far too long to recognize where the limit was and with Bella I knew there was so much more.

When she looked up at us once more I can see how defeated she looked, pale and exhausted from the burdens she carried on her shoulders.

The tears never stopped flowing.

Exhaling, her head resting against the headboard she spoke in a grim voice, "I remember just watching the paramedics take him away. I felt so guilty for not crying for him...The truth is I barely knew my father. When he showed up again after so long I couldn't even recognize him so how could I really grieve for a stranger, right?"

But she did grieve. I could see it. She still grieves for the loss of the man that should have protected her and her brother.

"Everyone deals with loss in different ways. It's okay to grieve for him, Bella. No matter what he did, he was still your father." I said, knowing perfectly well what she felt.

I knew that Peter was feeling the same way but he wouldn't be touching on his past so willingly any time soon. There was too much built up anger and resentment there.

Blood is blood regardless of how much you deny its existence.

She looks at me when she hears my words and I can see how torn she is.

"Yes, he was my father," she says in a voice that tells me she was conflicted as her brows were furrowed. " He was my father who left us with all of his debts the moment he died. Somehow he managed to rack up over twenty-five thousand dollars in debt all because of his addiction and with my grandmother being ill and Paul being only a child..."

"You had to take on his debts." I hear Peter say as a matter of factly, sitting on the bed on the opposite side of me, his grey eyes filled with an expression I knew all too well.

Bella nods, keeping her gaze down again.

"That's when I met him. My father's drug dealer and he didn't care if he was dead, all he wanted was to be compensated for his services. I had to get two jobs to be able to pay for what he asked for every month, my grandmother helped however she could but that year she got worse and passed away shortly after. She left us her apartment and whatever savings she had...money I didn't touch to keep for Paul but now that's gone too."

At her words, I remembered how frantically she ran to her bedroom when we went to her apartment last night. The destroyed mattress and the empty leather bag thrown on the floor. The fucker took the little money she had saved up and it wasn't even for her.

Standing up I leaned against the bed post, my arms crossed as I looked at Bella wipe her tears away roughly from all the frustration.

"He did that to you." I referred to the bruise on her face that only looked to be getting worse as it progressively turned from a dark purple to almost black, circling around her cheekbone and stopping just under her eye. Whoever this disgusting pig was I would personally see to it that he feels all the things Bella has because of him.

"...what was his name?" Peter asks, inching forward to sit in front of her and I almost grinned, knowing my adopted brother was having the exact same ideas as me.

I can see the hesitation she had but based on how determined Peter and I were, she sighs in resignation, "His name...is J-James."

Fuck.

At the mere mention of this mother fucker's name, Peter looks to me with cold eyes that could kill. Of course the most dangerous, thorn in my side drug dealer in Seattle has managed to get a hold of a family that could have been living a normal life right now. A life Bella could have had.

Not only that but James wasn't just some drug dealing punk. He was the number one source to the Volturi's supply in the drug industry.

"It's not the first time he's done this. He's done worse..." She says almost in a whisper, her fingers picking at a stray thread that poked out of the cover. Sitting down in front of her I curl my fingers under her chin, making her look up at me.

"There's more, isn't there?"

Turning her head away from me, she bites her lip. I can see that she wants to open up to us, to talk to someone about everything she's endured but there's also fear.

"...It's bad."

"We can handle it." Peter said, placing his hand on her hand again to make her look back at him and then to me.

Exhaling deeply I watch as a single tear slides down her cheek, "I didn't want him to...I was so young, I just turned eighteen when he started showing up to the apartment more," she stops talking to hug her knees to her chest again, "At first he...he'd just wait on the stairs outside while I got the money but over time...he wanted to come inside."

When she pauses once more to get through the tears that were starting again, I averted my gaze.

God, please don't let it be what I think it is.

"It's okay Bella, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

At Peter's words she looks up cautiously, considers that we don't have to hear everything unless she wanted to tell us but then she shakes her head.

"No...I can't talk about it again after this." Running her hand through her long hair she starts, "I-I was too scared to tell him to stay outside so I let him. After I handed him the money he grabbed my hand and pushed me against the door. My head slammed against it so hard I got lightheaded and for a moment I just stood there as he touched me. No one had ever touched me like that before, and I honestly didn't even realize what was happening. It just blurred together until I heard Paul's voice call me from his room. Somehow I managed to push him away from me a-and all he did was laugh at me as I ran towards Paul's room."

"...he just laughed at me." She repeats, no longer shedding tears. Just numb as she relived the disgusting things that fucker did to her. Looking over my shoulder I can see Peter's own eyes were filled with an emotion I hadn't seen in a long time. It was angry or frustrated though, it was something raw. He felt strongly about Bella and based on the sinking feeling in my stomach, I could honestly say I felt the same way about her.

"Bella..." I whisper, hoping to shake her out of her memories. Then she looks up at me, her eyes wide open as if she had just realized what she had told us before slipping out of the covers faster than I could have imagined.

"I-I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said those things." She began saying quickly as she hugged her sides, her cheeks flushed.

"It's alright, Bella."

"Alright? No, no it's not. I shouldn't have done that. I told you about-" I realized she was starting to have a panic attack when she covered her mouth, trying to hold back a sob that shook her whole body. "Oh god. I-I have to go."

Before I can even process what she said, she's grabbing her purse from the chest drawer and pulls on a sweater. Peter immediately jumps over the bed and walks over to her in a few short strides before she can make it for the door.

Grabbing her arm to stop her from running away he speaks, "Hey, hey! Wait, don't go Bella."

Turning around she has a look of pure desperation and it makes something in me ache inside.

"He'll be looking for me and Paul, if he finds out where Paul is and he goes after him! What was I thinking? This was such a mistake!"

"No, it wasn't okay? We're going to help you and your brother get away from James. Nothing is going to happen but you have to trust me on that. So stay, please?"

All I can do is stay silent as I observe how incredibly small Bella was, standing in front of Peter. She looked so vulnerable and fragile, you wouldn't have even guessed she was harboring such burdens on her shoulders.

Shaking her head she starts breathing heavily and if she didn't calm down soon I feared she would start hyperventilating, "No, he's going to find out. He always finds out no matter what I do. There's no getting away from him, Peter! I-I...c-can't-"

Placing his hand on both sides of her cheeks, he makes her look at him, "Bella, sweetheart you need to breathe or you'll start hyperventilating. Just look at me and focus on breathing with me okay?"

He wipes away the tears that kept sliding down Bella's face with his thumbs and with difficulty she closes her eyes, leaning into his touch hesitantly before taking long deep breaths, Peter following her as he inhales and exhales. She grips onto his wrists and lets out a hushed sob that she failed to stifle.

"I'm sorry." I hear her whimper before Peter pulls her into his arms, sharing just how much he meant to keep his word in keeping her safe.

And I would make sure that fucking happened.

"It's gonna be okay, darlin'."

A/N :

What did we think about Peter and Jasper's reactions? Bella's been through so much enough as it is, let's hope it only gets better from here on out for her.

Thanks for reading! I have the next chapter ready for all of you who have been asking for more updates so keep an eye out for a second update this week!