This chapter was inspired by track #10 of The Black Keys' CD, Brothers, entitled Sinister Kid.

A BIG thank you to my wonderful beta, Savannah_Vee! You're the best!

I do not own Twilight or the characters in it.

Enjoy!

xxxx

"Jasper, get your ass out here now!"

I cringed as I heard my stepfather yelling at me from the living room, and slowly walked toward the voice, dreading what was about to happen.

"What the hell took you so long, boy?"

Before I could answer, he grabbed my arm and hurled me toward the kitchen.

"Get me a beer!"

Inwardly I seethed, wanting to bash his face in with my fists, but I complied because I didn't want to deal with the repercussions of disobeying his orders.

After grabbing a cold beer from the refrigerator, I walked over to the kitchen counter and popped the tab. Glancing behind me, I made sure he wasn't watching and quickly spat into the can. For good measure, I swirled the liquid to make sure my spit was nicely mixed in.

Holding the can in front of me, I gave it to my stepfather, who immediately took a huge swig. I hid my satisfied smile – which was soon wiped off as I felt the cold liquid covering my face and seeping through my shirt. For a moment I feared he'd discovered the surprise I added to his drink. This couldn't end well.

"Dammit, boy! Can't you do anything right?"

I stared at him, dumbfounded.

"What, are you retarded or something?" he yelled.

I shook my head and answered in a quiet, yet determined voice, "No."

"You gotta be retarded. You can't even bring me a beer that's cold enough to drink. Stupid bastard."

Before I even knew what I was doing, words started flying out of my mouth.

"Well, if you would help mom out a little bit, maybe we could get a better refrigerator to keep your beers cold! I'd rather be retarded than lazy!"

As soon as the words left my lips I knew I was in serious trouble. My stepfather's ice-cold eyes glared at me. I glared back. We were having a pretty good staring contest until I felt a hard, yet familiar, slap across my face. The force of the blow knocked me off balance and I fell to the floor.

"What did you say, you little shit?"

Afraid to even breathe, I just sat there in a crumpled heap on the floor.

"You have no idea what I do! And don't you ever talk back to me again, or I'll make you wish you were never born!"

I was already there. I had no idea why I had been born into this hellhole of a life; living in a trailer with my drug addicted mother and her abusive husband. I was only 11 years old. I should have been riding my bike and climbing trees. Instead, I was lying on the floor, scared to move, while my lazy, good-for-nothing stepfather berated me and treated me like the shit at the bottom of his shoes.

I wanted to fight back, but I was too small to do any real damage. With as much courage as I could muster, I said under my breath, "I already do."

That did it. My stepfather flew into a rage, picking me up and slamming me against the wall. My stomach turned as he moved extremely close to my face, so close that I could smell stale beer on his breath.

"Believe me, you little bastard, I wish the same thing. If your damned mother hadn't been out turning tricks for drugs, your dumbass wouldn't be here."

The sting of his words brought tears to my eyes. I knew my mom had problems, but I had no clue she was selling her body as well. How could I? I was just a little boy. I flailed my arms, trying to hit the sorry excuse for a man.

"Take it back!" I screamed. "Take it back! You're lying!"

He laughed a bitter, sarcastic laugh.

"Hurts to know the truth, huh? I bet she even considered aborting you, but for some unknown reason, she wanted to keep your sorry ass."

Shaking and overcome with immense anger, I spit in his face. My stepfather slowly wiped the saliva from his cheek, balled his fist and hit me with such force I thought for sure I was dead. My insides rattled and my head rang as I fell to the floor.

"You'll never amount to anything! You're just the bastard son of a whore!"

His boot connected with my ribs and I experienced the most excruciating pain of my life. I cried out as tears streamed down my face. I couldn't breathe, my head hurt, and I just wanted it all to end. I heard the door slam shut as he left me in a heap on the floor, probably hoping I'd do him the favor and die. Part of me wanted to give him what he wanted. Instead I just lay there, struggling to breathe and thinking of the day when I would finally get away from him….and away from this shitty existence.

xxxx

I took a long drag of my cigarette and chased it with a swig of whiskey straight from the bottle. I hated when I thought about my past; not just because it was so terrible, but because I'd tried everything in my power to move past it and suppress the sickening memories. My mother was no saint, but the few times she was coherent and sober, she was pretty loving. I relished those moments because, for a short amount of time, I felt like a regular kid, not the scared child who dreaded going home because he wasn't sure if he'd be greeted with a fist from his stepfather or the sight of his mother half dead on the couch.

I squeezed my eyes closed and took another swig of the amber liquid. If I drank enough of this shit, I'd hopefully just black out and rid my brain of the painful memories.

After drinking nearly half the bottle, my eyes finally closed and my mind became free of all the hurt, abuse, and chaos.

xxxx

Boom, boom, boom!

My eyes cracked open slightly to the sound of pounding. I wasn't sure if it was in my head or if it was actually the door.

Boom, boom, boom!

"Jasper! You in there?"

I groaned and opened my eyes fully.

Who the fuck is knocking at my door?

"Jasper, I know you're in there!"

"Fuck!"

Rubbing my hands over my face, I stood and staggered over to the door. I could still feel the effects of the whiskey on my body as I swayed back and forth, trying to regain my balance. When I finally reached the door, I opened it as wide as it could go before the chain caught it.

"What do you want, Masen?"

"Open the door, Jasper."

"It is open, fucker. Why are you waking me up at this ungodly hour?"

"Ungodly hour? It's fucking 1:30 in the afternoon, dumbass!"

I looked back at my clock to see that the time of day wasn't so ungodly after all.

"What do you want, Ed?"

I watched with glee as he narrowed his eyes at me. He hated being called Ed and I loved pushing his buttons.

"Open the door for me, Jazzy, and I'll let you know."

Giving him the finger, I shut the door in his face, unhooked the chain and swung it back open, walking over to the kitchen for some rehydration. My mouth felt like the Sahara.

"What the fuck have you been doing?"

I just stared at Edward, while guzzling an entire bottle of water and then throwing it in the trash.

"I was sleeping. What the hell do you think I was doing?"

Edward walked over to my coffee table, lifted up the half-emptied bottle of Jack and looked back at me.

"I can see what you were doing."

Growing impatient, I sat down on the couch and flipped on the TV.

"Again, what the fuck do you want?"

He sat down on the other end of the couch and spoke after what seemed like an eternity.

"Wanna go out tonight?"

I gave him a sideways glance and laughed.

"Are you asking me out on a date or something?"

"No, dumbass. There's a party downtown at an acquaintance's house and I thought you might like to join the living and attend."

"You know I don't do parties, Edward. They're just full of stuck up people trying to act like something they're not."

"Spare me the angst, Jasper," Edward said, rolling his eyes. "It's just a dumb party. Just regular people getting together to drink and talk. You can handle that, right?"

"Whatever," I said with a sigh.

"Great. I'll be back around seven," he said, letting himself out the front door.

"Yeah, yeah."

I guess you could say Edward was the closest thing I had to a friend. Even though I'd have preferred being by myself, because most people are dumb fuckers, he was tolerable. He lived two doors down and when I first moved in, I ignored him for the most part since people generally piss me off. But we ran into each other at a bar and struck up a conversation about guitars and motorcycles. Ever since then, we'd occasionally have a beer or a few shots. The best thing about him, in my opinion, was that he could be as big of an asshole as I was. One night, I watched him flirt with a chick all night just to get free drinks out of her. At the end of the night, when she was ready to take him home and fuck him silly, he turned to her and said, "Not tonight. I have to get home to my wife." I nearly pissed my pants from laughter. The chick walked off in a huff, but I couldn't help but give him props. Women seemed to flock to him because they liked his "soulful eyes" and "sex hair," but he usually brushed them off.

While trying to find something to eat, I thought back to a conversation Edward and I had a couple of weeks ago…

"I'm not looking for a one-night stand," he said to me, nursing his beer.

"What?"

"One-night stands are overrated. I'm looking for a decent girl to settle down with."

"Are you fucking out of your mind? There's no such thing as 'the one,' Edward. You're fooling yourself."

"Nah, you're wrong."

"No, I'm realistic. Look around! There's a sea of pussy out there and you're going to let it all go to waste because of some fairytale?"

Edward shook his head and looked at me like I was a pitiful dog found by the side of the road.

"Have you ever been in love?"

"Shit, Edward. I don't want to have this conversation."

"Oh come on! Stop being a pussy and just answer the damned question."

"Alright, fine. No, I've never been in fuckin' love before. Frankly, I don't want to be."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because it's too much of a fuckin' hassle. You constantly have to baby the other person and in the end, both parties are disappointed because neither ends up being what the other needs. Why torture yourself like that?"

"Man, you're so jaded it's ridiculous."

"Oh well, Mr. I-Know-Everything-About-Love, please enlighten me."

"Listen, fucker, love can be all daisies and rainbows and shit. It can also be a complete bitch and make you want to curl up in a ball and cry like a baby, but that's not my point. When you meet a woman who makes you want to be a better person; who loves you for the person you are, good or bad, that's love."

"Yeah, well don't expect it to happen to me. I'm too far gone for any woman to see past all my shit. I'll just settle for some good head and a good fuck every now and then."

"I'm not knocking your decision, but believe me when I say that loveis all that it's cracked up to be.

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, Edward. Wait! Where the hell did this come from? I thought you were a love 'em & leave 'em kind of guy. You're a dick!"

Edward silently laughed to himself while staring down at his beer bottle on the table. "Like I said, Jasper, one-night stands are highly overrated. I don't give two fucks about these women who throw themselves at anyone with a dick. I'm through with all that and I want the real deal now."

"So you're going to be celibate?"

"Hell no," he exclaimed. "Just because I'm looking for a decent girl, doesn't mean I'll say no to a quickie or some brain every once in a while."

Edward winked as I sat back and laughed. There was no way in hell I would ever end up like him. Loving them and leaving them suited me just fine.

xxxx

My uneventful day went by pretty quickly and before I knew it, Edward was pounding on my door once again.

"You better be ready to go, fucker, and not passed out on the couch!"

I opened the door rather quickly, startling Edward a little. "I'm up, asswipe, and stop screaming outside my fuckin' door! Damn!"

"Well, what the fuck are you waiting for? Let's go."

Two trains later, Edward and I were standing outside of his acquaintance's apartment, knocking on the door. I could hear and feel the thump of the bass from where I was standing and immediately wanted to walk away. I wasn't in the mood to sit in a small New York City apartment with the music so loud I could barely hear myself think.

I turned my head toward Edward and asked, "How do you know these people?"

"The person throwing the party makes my coffee every morning."

I took a deep breath as I felt my temper flaring. "What the fuck, Edward? You dragged me to your barista's house party?"

"Shut up, Jasper. Take the stick out of your ass and try to have a little fun. I know it's hard for you, but try."

Before I could respond, the door swung open. Standing before me was a huge guy with dark hair and even darker eyes. He had to be at least 6'6" or 6'7" and looked like he could be a boxer. One might have been intimidated by his size, but his big toothy grin took all of that fear away.

"Edward! Glad you made it," the giant said, shaking Edward's hand.

"No problem, Jake. This is my friend, Jasper."

"Cool. Thanks for coming out, Jasper."

Jake extended his nine-foot arm and shook my hand…hard.

"Thanks for having me," I responded.

"Help yourselves to the food & drinks in the kitchen. I'll catch up with you later."

I tapped Edward on the arm and said, "That's your barista? I was expecting some mousy looking girl."

Edward laughed. "Yeah, that's him. He scared the shit out of me when I first walked into the coffee shop and saw him standing there. I thought he was security, but then I figured a coffee shop wouldn't need that. He does make a mean latte."

"Yeah, and he has a mean handshake. I think he broke a couple of bones when he shook my hand."

Edward laughed even harder. "He's a big softy. He helps little old ladies with their orders and even acts as a human jungle gym for the kids who come into the shop."

"That's nice," I said sarcastically.

Edward rolled his eyes and pushed me in the direction of the kitchen.

"Come on, smartass, let's get something to drink."

As we entered the kitchen we saw the obligatory red cups ready to be filled with various brands of beer or liquor. I decided on a beer while Edward made a Long Island. Once we had our drinks, Edward turned to me and said, "I'm going to go talk to Jake. Will you be okay? I know you don't like people."

I silently gave him the middle finger and walked away, hearing his laughter in the background.

Edward was right. I don't like people and I sure as hell didn't want to talk to any of these assholes. I decided to just do some people watching to pass the time, so I found a seat and made myself comfortable. I could see Edward talking to Jake and another girl, who I assumed to be Jake's girlfriend. The way he was holding on to her, as if telling the rest of the dicks in the room that this girl was his, gave it away. I watched people dancing, drinking, talking, fighting, making out….and then my stomach dropped to my feet. Coming towards me was the fuckin' redhead I jilted at the bar last week."

"Shit," I said to myself.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the asshole who left me hanging last week."

I put on my best smile and bowed. "In the flesh."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked like she was about to start pouting. "You do know that what you did was wrong, right?"

I gave her my best "bitch, please" look and continued scanning the crowd. Annoyed by my lack of interest, she stood directly in front of me, blocking much of my view of the rest of the party.

"How are you going to make it up to me?" she asked in her best seductive voice.

I tried not to laugh in her face as I said, "By not doing a damned thing."

Her eyes narrowed and I thought I heard her huff like a petulant child.

"Look, you owe me!"

"The fuck I do! What could I possible owe you?"

"An orgasm."

I couldn't contain my laughter any longer as I threw my head back and laughed as hard as I could. It's a good thing the music was so loud because I know some of the partygoers would have thought I was crazy.

"You seriously think I'm just going to take you back into the bedroom and fuck your brains out just because you think I owe you something? Ha!"

"It's only fair."

"It's only fair that you walk away with what little dignity you have."

Looking as though she wanted to pull her hair out from anger, she stomped away from me. Relieved, I continued to watch various people doing mundane shit. Out of nowhere, I felt cold liquid splash against my face and down my shirt. I literally froze, having a flashback to my stepfather throwing beer in my face. I heard someone in the background go, "Oooooh," and I was brought out of my daze. The redhead was stood right in front of me with a satisfied smirk on her face. I was ready to explode. I would neverhit a woman, but this one was seriously trying me.

Before I could lash out, I felt a soft touch on my arm. I whipped my head around and saw that familiar, innocent smile.

"Just walk away, Jasper," she said quietly.

I nodded my head and followed her as she led me to the kitchen. I kept my eyes on her because I knew if I looked back at that redhead bitch, I would go off and show everyone what crazy truly looked like.

When we reached the kitchen, I leaned against the counter and surveyed the damage. I'd live, it was only a t-shirt, but now I had to go through the rest of the night smelling like a brewery.

My savior stood in front of me and started to giggle….yet again.

"Am I that funny that you feel the need to laugh at me every time I see you?"

"Oh, don't get your panties in a bunch, Jasper. I just didn't want you to get thrown in jail because a skank wouldn't leave you alone."

"Well…thanks for getting me out of there," I said, in a surprisingly shy manner.

"It's nothing. Just make sure you don't piss off any more women. You're lucky she was tame. There are some who would cut you for a lot less."

"Cut me," I said with a snort.

"Yeah, or use their super stealth ninja skills to bring you down with one touch."

I laughed when Alice did her best ninja impersonation filled with weird kung fu moves and sounds.

"There. I made you laugh. You know, you're much more handsome when you smile. Every time I see you, you're scowling."

She lightly feathered her hands over my face as she said, "Be careful, Jasper. We don't want this pretty face to get wrinkles."

I was about to say something smart in return, but she quickly turned and walked out of the kitchen, leaving me with the comforting memory of her touch on my face.

xxxx

Thank you to everyone for writing such great reviews! I'm so glad you're enjoying this story!