"Was I interrupting something?" Eve asked, looking between Jason and I.

Was she? I wasn't sure. It seemed like Jason was going to kiss me but- "Definitely not." He said, sounding annoyed. Well, I guess he wasn't going to kiss me.

"All right." Said Eve slowly. "I'm going to go downstairs to make food."

Jason and I both nodded at her. I couldn't get the feeling that something more was going to happen between Jason and I. I had to ask him. "A minute ago... were you going to kiss me?" I asked.

"Me? Kiss you?" He repeated. The way he said it made me sound as if I'd lost my mind. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm really not interested in you that way? You're not my type. At all."

"Good!" I shouted angrily. "Because I prefer guys like Richard, anyways."

The second the words were out of my mouth I regretted them. The look of hurt that crossed Jason's face was instantly replaced with anger.

"Whatever." He said, opening the door and stepping into the hall. "Go to sleep. I'll bring you food up when you get up."

I angrily turned over and shut my eyes. Mixed signals. That's all that Jason ever sent me. Who wanted a guy who never gave you a straight answer, or told you how he was actually feeling? Or who was only nice to you 15% of the time?

I finally fell asleep and dreamed of burning houses, and crisped corpses. Of evil faces, grinning at me in the darkness.

I awoke, shaking and drenched with sweat. I peeled off the t-shirt I was wearing, thankful that it was all a dream. That I was really just asleep at my beautiful apartment back in New York. In my comfy bed.

I rolled over, deciding that I was still tired. I just hoped that I didn't have anymore nightmares. This time I fell asleep and didn't have any dreams. I was thankful for that.

When I awoke someone was in my room. My eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark yet, but it had to be mom.

"Mom?" I called out quietly. I was exhausted still, no matter how much sleep I had had. "What do you want? I'm sleeping..."

"Emma, it's Jason." Came a male voice to my right. I bolted upright.

"Wha-" I was about to scream for help before everything came flooding back to me. The nightmare that wasn't actually a nightmare, but a reality. The fact that I was sleeping in Jason's room instead of my old one.

The fact that my mother wasn't alive anymore.

"Shit." I muttered. "I thought... I thought it was a dream."

"Do you usually strip in your sleep?" Jason asked, laughter in his voice.

I looked over to see him holding the shirt that Eve had lent me. I looked down. All I was wearing my my purple bra. I quickly pulled the covers over myself. I felt a blush creeping into my cheeks.

"I checked on you a couple times." Jason said, handing me the shirt. He turned around as I put it back on. "The first couple times you were tossing and crying. I tried to wake you. Then I came back and you were smiling. Must have been some dream."

"I thought I was back. In New York." I said sadly. I sighed. "I'm so tired."

I really was. All the sadness and grief I was feeling came down hard on me, making me feel exhausted.

"Go back to bed, then." Jason told me.

Suddenly I felt scared. "I can't. I don't... I don't want to see those things again." I shuddered.

"There's no use staying up. You're going to have to sleep eventually. No point in wearing yourself out." Jason said. His tone changed. He didn't sound friendly anymore. He sounded closed off. The way he usually was.

"You're right." I said. "But... stay with me."

I hadn't really meant to say that. Really. I hoped he hadn't heard. I closed my eyes to hide my embarrassment.

I expected some kind of angry, or smart-ass reply. Instead, Jason stayed quiet. He walked over to the other side of the bed and laid down beside me.

"Fine." He said after settling down. "But don't touch me."

I staid on my half of the bed, far enough away from Jason that we both had space to move around without getting near each other. Not long after, I was asleep again.

I woke up to Jason telling me not to touch him. I realized that I had curled up to him in the middle of sleeping. I pulled back quickly.

"Sorry." I mumbled, feeling like an idiot. Jason started shuffling around.

It was then that I realized that he was still asleep. He hadn't really been talking to me.

"Stay away from me." He said quietly. I expected his voice to be angry, but instead it sounded scared. "Leave me alone. Leave me alone!"

I quickly nudged his arm, trying to awaken him. "Please don't." He muttered. "Please."

I nudged him harder. I wanted to get him away from whatever was coming after him in his sleep. Suddenly he bolted upright, panting. There was sweat on his forhead.

Jason noticed me sitting beside him and jumped out of bed.

"Stay away from-" He stopped suddenly. "Emma."

"Are you okay?" I asked, keeping my voice low and gentle.

"I'm fine." He said harshly. "Bad dream."

"Sometimes it helps if you talk about." I said softly. "What was it about?"

"Nothing!" He shouted. Then he lowered his voice. "Nothing."

Something in his face looked tortured. He wasn't looking at me anymore. Instead he seemed to be seeing something far away, that no one else could. He shuddered once.

He sat on the edge of the bed. I sat up and sat beside him. "Everything just so fucked up." He said quickly.

I laid a hand on his harm. He jerked it off immediately. "Don't." He said angrily. "Don't touch me."

I jerked my arm away. "What's so fucked up?" I asked. I didn't want to set him off again, but something was genuinely bothering him.

He laughed bitterly. "Life." Was what he replied with.

"I know what you mean." I said after a moment of silence.

"No, you don't." He said, standing up. "Your mother probably loved you. Would do anything for you."

"You mother probably loves you to, Jason." I said softly.

"You don't know her. She'd do anything to get ahead in this stupid fucking town." His voice was filled with pain and anger. "Turn a blind eye to things that she should have been stopping. A mother is supposed to protect her kids, not set them up for predators!"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to." I said quickly, realizing I was probably pushing a boundary.

"You really want to know?" He asked, suddenly looking manic. I nodded.

"We used to have this protector, Brandon." He laughed, but it wasn't a nice sound. "He was a creepy guy. Our parents didn't care, though. All they cared about was the shiny bracelet they got from him."

"When he started trying things with Eve, she freaked out. Told him where to shove his protection and moved out. I staid. I didn't fully understand at the time." He spoke so softly I could barely hear him, yet the anger and disgust in his tone was very clear. "But when he started coming to me at night... trying things... I finally realized why Eve left."

"I told my parents." Jason said, and paused. He looked lost in thought for a moment. Then he continued. "All they said was, 'Don't you want to help protect us? Just do what ever he says, honey. It's okay.'" Another bitter laugh. "For a year, I endured it. For a year I let that bastard molest me."

I took in a shocked intake of breath. "Why didn't I leave? I thought it was normal. I thought maybe this was how everything happened around here. And my parents... they wouldn't stand for me stopping it. They were too afraid of what would happen. I told them a million times that I didn't want to, but they just ignored me and pretended that it was all in my head, that nothing was going on."

It explained a lot. It explained why he was so closed off. Why he was so angry when people tried to get close to him. Something like that... something like that permanently scarred someone.

"I'm so sorry." I said. I realized how lame and worthless those words were, yet I couldn't help but say them.

"Your words don't make up for other peoples actions, Emma." He said, his voice ragged and angry. Yet there was a broken sound to it.

"Not everyone's going to hurt you, Jason." I said, standing up. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. This time he didn't shrug it off. Instead he leaned into it, looking suddenly broken and lost, like a child.

"How do you know?" He asked. "Isn't it best to be careful and stay away from people who can hurt you instead?"

"No." I said firmly, shaking my head. "If you do that, you miss out on all the people who can help you."

"You want to help me?" He asked quietly.

"I do." I replied softly.

Jason bent his head close to mine. I closed my eyes and tilted my face upwards, towards his. His lips crushed into mine. Not at all soft, the way Richard has kissed me. This was more intense, more emotional. This was a kiss that meant something more, and touched me in places I didn't know a kiss could reach.

Jason pulled back. Instead of letting him, I kissed him this time. I wrapped my arms around his neck. His found there way around my waist and he steered me towards the bed.

The kiss got more intense as my mouth parted and our tongues met. My body felt hot all over. Not in a bad way, more like coming inside after a cold winter day and sitting by the fire. It was amazing.

My lips tingled as he pulled away slightly and lowered me onto the bed. Suddenly Jason was on top of me, kissing me with a hunger that couldn't be satiated. He made a low, growling sound in the back of his throat.

My fingers found the hem of his shirt and tugged it upwards. He moved so that I could pull it over his head. God, he was gorgeous. Suddenly his lips found my neck and I moaned quietly. I hadn't meant to but it felt so good.

But we were going so fast... I'd only kissed two other boys in my life, and none of them had been like this. This urgent need burning through my body, every sense tingling as his lips trailed down my throat.

"Jason." I said suddenly. "We- we need to- we need to stop."

"Mmm?" Jason mumbled, his lips coming back up to mine.

"We need to stop." I said, more firmly this time. "We don't want to get carried away."

A look of rejection crossed his face, but was immediately covered by a cocky smile. "Yeah, you're right. I'm pretty tired, anyways." He said, and rolled off me. "I'm going back to bed."

"Night." I muttered quietly. Things had changed from cold, to hot, to cold again. I rolled away from him and shut my eyes too.

I woke up to Jason getting out of bed. He was pulling on his shirt as I sat up.

"Good, you're awake." He said, but the way he said it didn't sound as if he actually thought it was good.

"Good morning to you too." I said, rubbing the sleep out my eyes.

Jason walked towards the door. "I'm going out." He said. He paused, then continued. "And I want you out of here before I get back."

"What?" I asked, startled.

"I mean it, Emma. I don't want you here again." He said, and looked away from me. "You don't want to be here when I get back."

"Or else what?" I asked, anger in my voice. I felt like crying all of a sudden. Why was he being like this?

Jason flashed me a cruel smile. "You don't get a reputation like mine for nothing." And then he walked out the door.

This chapter was so fun, yet so horrible, to write. I'm sure any of you that have followed, and enjoy, the story are like, "WTF?" right now. I know, I know. But you can't have a happy ending halfway through the story! Where's the fun in that? :)

Also, Review, people! To those of you who frequently review, KitKat and Dark Angel, you guys are amazing. :D