A/N: Character names and Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. This story and it's plot and character variations belong to me. No infringement intended. I only own the errors. This story contains sexual explicit and mature language and situations. IF you don't like, don't read. Not for children under age 18.

Well it has been a while since I updated this story. A recent case of mine renewed my interest in getting the message out there to stop domestic violence. This story is angsty and rough. I know that, but the reality is that so many people live in this type of situation every day and worse. You can make a difference. Please get involved in your local domestic violence initiative and give a voice to people who may not have one. There are Jaspers everywhere, but there are also Kates, Kevins, and parents and uncles and family…people who can help the victims of DV and FV. Thank you all for reading and making your mark in the lives of others.

Jasper's POV

The house was totally dark when I opened my eyes. I looked over and saw Kevin sound asleep on the couch across from me. He looked so peaceful as I listened to the gentle humming of his breathing. He was still dressed in his jeans and polo, but he seemed very comfortable. He had a blanket over him almost exactly like the one I had over me. One of my parents must have gotten up sometime after we fell asleep and covered us up. That's what I missed…the love and care that was always shown even in the smallest things. I needed that security in my life again.

I decided to get up to go to the bathroom and nearly jumped out of my pants when I turned and saw James sitting in an empty chair behind me. It was dark but I could see that he was not happy about me sleeping downstairs instead of in our room. I didn't move but just stood there watching him. I quickly glanced back at my brother who was sleeping like a baby and then back at James. I was afraid to move, but I knew that if James tried to hurt me, I could scream and Kevin and my parents would immediately come to my rescue. Nevertheless, I stood there trembling in fear for what he might do to me because of everything that had happened today.

"James?" I whispered. He remained silent as a church mouse. "What's going on?"

I eyed him carefully and he moved and I noticed something shiny in his hand when he moved. I couldn't make out what it was, but whatever it was made me extremely nervous.

"Going somewhere?" He asked. Kevin stirred a little but remained asleep.

"I was just going to the bathroom." I explained in an even lower voice.

He just glared at me in the darkness. James was so jealous hearted. He would rather sacrifice his sleep in a comfortable bed and sit in a dark room and watch me sleep. I glanced towards my parents' bedroom and wondered if their door was locked. It probably wasn't. My father was not a hard sleeper and I was sure if he heard anything he would be up in a flash.

I swear James' ocean blue eyes blended perfectly in the darkness. He was enraged. I walked towards the bathroom and he stood up causing me to stop dead in my tracks. We squared off and I finally saw what was in his hand. It was his gun.

My whole body began to quiver in total fear. I was overcome with terror of what he was about to do. I froze. I wanted to scream out but was afraid that Kevin would wake up and he would hurt him or that my father would come out of the room and he'd shoot him or something. I swallowed hard as my biggest fear began to materialize right in front of me.

He didn't say a word and I didn't either. Kevin was still breathing softly, inches away from James who held a lethal weapon in his hand. James didn't take his eyes off of me and he took a step towards me and I saw that he was crying.

What the hell? What is going on?

"Walk with me Jasper." His voice was hardly a whisper. I was afraid for my life but I had to get him out of this house before he snapped and harmed the people who loved me the most…who were near and dear to my heart.

I reluctantly nodded and we headed to the laundry room and exited quietly out the side door. He followed me out and gently closed the door behind me. I stood still in front of the door and he step down in front of me. He still had tears tracking down his face as I gawked at him in pure confusion. I was still half asleep and had no clue what was happening right then. I decided to tread lightly because he seemed unusually emotional and unstable. I'd never in my life saw him cry…never.

"James? What's wrong, baby?" I asked. Surprisingly I was genuinely concerned…more so for my own well-being, but he was really freaking me out.

"I'm sick, Jasper." He whispered.

I gawked at him again not knowing how to respond to his confession. I'd always suspected that there was something terribly wrong with James. I just couldn't accept that he'd always been this completely insane. I was stunned into silence—totally speechless.

He sniffled and wiped his nose with the hand that held his gun. "I need help." He whispered. He bowed his head and tears fell on his hand. I was still frozen in front of him with my arms dangling at my sides. "Jazzy," He sobbed harder.

I truly didn't know what to do. My husband, the man who had put me through the worse torture of my life, was standing here with a gun in his hand telling me he needed help? What in the hell was going on? What was I supposed to do? Who was this man? What made him tick? Was it possible that he was just a 'normal' person who suddenly became abusive? Could he be helped and would he stop abusing me or would it likely just get worse? I was confused as all get out. Was he suffering from mental illness or some kind of personality disorder?

James certainly didn't fit the public definition of a monster. He didn't walk around with a big A for 'abuser' on his forehead, nor was he easily discernible by anyone 'normal' or complied with the stereotypical image. In fact the problem with him that I'd encountered as well as my friends and family was just how 'normal' he seemed. He was so far removed from any images of perpetrators that were so frequently portrayed by the media. In a truth, there were no definite criteria that he fit.

"James, I,"

"Jasper," He sobbed in his hand. "I love you. I'm in love with you. I've always been in love with you."

I shook my head completely baffled. Seriously?

"I know I hurt you so badly Jasper. I didn't mean it. It's the demons…they…they make me do crazy things." He reached out and grabbed my wrists and I cringed when the coolness of the steel touched one of my hands.

"James, baby? Why do you have this gun?" I asked softly. I was extremely uncomfortable with him standing that close to me with that gun in his hand.

"Jazzy, I don't want to live without you. I can't live with you." He put his forehead on mine. I was unsure about his mental stability right then. What was he saying? Did he want to harm himself or me?

"James, baby, what do you mean?" I asked not making any sudden movements for fear he would lose it right there and pop me or him with a bullet.

"Jazzy, I saw the look in your eyes. I'm not stupid. I know you want to leave me. For who? Kevin? I saw how you are around him…"

I was appalled. "No, James…Kevin is like a brother to me. I don't want him like that."

"You spent time with him, Jazzy." He sniffled again. "I saw it in your eyes. You'd rather be with him…all of them…you're not happy with me. You don't want me anymore. I don't make you happy the way that they do."

I swallowed hard and barely breathed as he moved closer to my body. He wrapped his arms around me and I kept my arms at my sides. I must have looked like a ragdoll standing there.

"Jazzy, I won't live without you. We made vows to one another. I know I'm sick. I can get help. Just please, please tell me you love me Jazzy and you only want to be with me. Please."

"James, I,"

"Jasper, I know I hurt you badly yesterday, but you kept tempting me…torturing my demons." He said. So he was really standing here pleading with me to profess my love for him, but at the same time blaming me for his abuse? He was so full of shit. He didn't mean any of this. He was just trying to make me feel sorry for him so that I would tell him that I would go back home with him. He just wanted to trap me so he could take me away from everyone who loved and supported me. James didn't love me. This was just another control tactic.

He squeezed me harder when I didn't respond to him. "James, ow, baby you're hurting me." He squeezed harder and breathed heavily on my face. His tears wet my face. "Jay—you're hurting me baby." I told him again. I was trying to coat my words in an effort to try to keep him calm.

"Jasper, I need you. I need for you to tell me you only want me. That you're mine." He offered more of that control shit. He pressed the gun to my back. "Please tell me."

"I'm yours." I lied. I'd stopped being his a long time ago.

"Jasper, I want to go home. Let's go home, baby, please. I promise I won't hit you again. I'll never hurt you again, baby, just please let's just leave so we can be together again, just the two of us."

"Jay, it's four in the morning." I told him. There was no way in hell I was leaving with him acting like this. For all I knew, he would take me down the road and shoot me or something. "We will wake everybody up."

"Jasper I just…I know you love me…right baby?"

I swallowed a very thick lump that formed in the hollow of my throat. "Of course."

"I don't want to stay for a party. I don't want to be here. I just need to be with you." He pulled away from and put his hand to my heart. "I broke your heart. I will make it up to you baby."

Liar!

Even though I knew he was lying, I felt empowered by his begging and pleading. For once, he needed something from me. Be it unhealthy, he needed me in his life.

"James do you really believe that the things you have been doing to me qualifies you as an abuser?" I asked, surprised by my confidence. I knew he was pulling my chain, but I wanted to see if his sorry ass would have the guts to confess it or not.

"Jasper, I know I'm rough with you, but it's the way I show you love. I just want you to know that you are mine and no one else's. If you think I've been abusing you, I'm sorry. Sometimes love is rough."

I almost slapped him right then. If he hadn't of had that gun in his hand I would have. This low down mother fucker just takes the sweetness right out of the honey bun. If I think he's been abusing me…you god damn right you have and you know it!

"Do you think I have been abusing you, Jazzy?" He looked at me sternly and his eyes seemed to darken again. "Hmmm?"

My body quaked a little, but I steadied myself. I needed to say this to him. I had reasonably deducted by now that he was not going to slap the shit out of me so I had to take full advantage of the unusual opportunity he was giving me.

"Jay, I'm only asking because the things you do to me and your attitude towards me is not the same as it is towards other people. You hurt me in the worse ways Jay."

He rolled his tongue in his mouth and crossed his arms listening to me. I could clearly see his face under the soft light of the full moon. As I watched the stars twinkling without a care in the world, he just stared at me.

"And you don't think you deserve any of that Jasper?"

I shook my head humbly, still careful not to buck too hard against him.

"What about today? I asked you to do one simple thing in the car and you refused to do it."

"Refused? James, I was crying because some little bitch was disrespecting me as your husband and you let him."

"He was harmless."

"Whatever." I murmured. He looked pissed by my attitude but reined it in. He still needed to be nice to me in order to coax me back home with him.

"And Jasper you pushed me in the yard."

"That was only after you kept jacking me around, James." My eyes started to sting and my throat became heavy when I recalled how badly he'd beaten me in Ms. Amy's back yard.

"You know better than to go there, Jazz." He stated point blankly.

"Know better? See that's what I'm talking about, Jay. You treat me like dirt."

He snarled almost to himself and my boldness gradually started to fizzle. "So you are saying that our relationship is an unhealthy one?"

I nodded but didn't saying anything when I saw his face hardened. "But I mean you do a lot of nice things for me Jay. I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything. I'm just tired of being hit."

"So you do want to leave." He looked down at his gun and ran his finger over it.

"I didn't say that." I quickly inserted that response. "I was just saying that because you hurt me today and other days."

He paused in thought for a couple of minutes and I took a moment to inhale the fresh air. "So tell me, Jasper, since you have all the answers and you seem to be a guru about what's wrong with James and not Jasper…"

"Jay, it's not like that. I-"

"Tell me Jasper. What's wrong with me?"

I just shook my head. James was hopeless. He couldn't even have a decent conversation about this with me. "Nothing. Forget I said anything."

"That was not a request." And there he was. The James I knew. Demanding my subservience to him. I bit my lip and tried not to become emotional. "Go on. I'm listening smart guy."

I exhaled knowing full well how this was going to end if I didn't give into what he wanted. "Well James, maybe you could ask yourself some questions."

He frowned and gave me the death look.

I extended my hands out. "What I mean is that maybe you…" I swallowed. "I mean, would you treat your boss like you treat me? The neighbors? If someone was treating your family like that would it be okay?"

He didn't say a word for what seemed like several minutes. "Jasper, I'm sorry that you think your life is so fucked up. Maybe you do need to leave if you feel that way." He waved his gun in my face. "Maybe I need to help you leave."

"Jay, calm down. I know you are good to me." I gently pushed his hand down out of my face. I was still trying my best to keep him cool as possible because he was quite unpredictable at the moment.

"But yet you stand here telling me that you think my behavior is unreasonable and abusive. You've never left me."

That's because I'm afraid you'll kill me.

"It can't be all that bad. You've never even threatened to leave me. If I'm being so nasty to you, then why wouldn't you just leave? You've had plenty of opportunity."

I just stood their staring at him like he'd kicked me in my groin. "I couldn't leave."

He smirked. "Then stop complaining. It's not as bad as you try to make it out to be."

The hell you say!

"Anything else you need to tell me Einstein?"

"No, sir." I said.

"You sure?" He mocked. He was so fucking unbelievable.

"I'm sure."

First of all, James had to realize that some of his actions and attitudes towards me as his husband were abusive. Point blank. He had to make the most important first step towards change in order for our marriage to work, and that was taking responsibility for his actions. He wasn't willing to do that which was going to make my decision to leave him so much easier. We would never be able to enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship because of his blatant denial of his insane abuse. He wasn't going to admit wrongdoing because that would be difficult and painful to realize that he was hurting me, the man he was supposed to love. He was the only person who could make a difference in his life.

One of the main problems with repeat abusers like him and perpetrators was that they were always in denial of the abusive nature of their actions. He truly denied that what he was doing was having a real effect on me. He wouldn't even be able to receive help from his friends or even from professionals like Kate because he was unwilling to change. Unfortunately for him, I'd decided that I'd been his punching bag long enough. By God's grace, I was going to get away from him as soon as I could.

"I don't want to argue with you Jazzy." He stroked my arm sending eerie chills down my spine. "It seems that all we do lately is argue. Come to bed and let me love you."

Um…no.

He noticed my hesitation and frowned. "Or would you rather sleep downstairs and get off by watching that little prick sleeping on the couch."

My eyes gaped.

"I saw you watching him."

"James, I wasn't-"

He jerked towards me but I backed away. "Don't you dare lie to me, Jasper."

Okay so this was about to get out of hand. I immediately softened my voice and hugged him. I rested my head on his chest though it made my stomach knot to do so. I knew from experience that I had to play the game his way to keep from getting hurt. This was what he liked.

"See you're tempting me again, Jasper."

"I love you James." I murmured against his chest. He smelled clean as if he'd showered before he went to bed. Holding him like this was bittersweet. A part of me missed all of the times when I held him like this and he returned my love. The other side of me couldn't take anymore bruises, so being this close to him was revolting.

He relaxed a little. "You're mine, Jasper."

"All yours." I could have cried for what was lost right then. He'd made such a mess of things.

"So if I agree to let you stay for this party, will you leave without a ruckus on Sunday? Your folks seem like they are itching for a fight. I would hate to have to give it to them."

I just rolled my eyes and kept my face plastered to his chest. He had no idea what they would do to him and I wasn't even feeling up to explaining it to him.

"Sure." I lied. "No worries."

He tightened his hold on me making it a little uncomfortable to breathe. I tried to pull back but couldn't because he had me in a vice grip. "Did you tell Kevin anything?"

I swallowed. "No, baby." I was becoming the master of lying. "Our business is our business. Kevin doesn't need to know what we do."

He was silent for a few minutes and finally relaxed his grip on me and pulled back so that he could see my face.

"I'm going to get help, Jazzy."

Lies and more lies. I just nodded.

"I really am. You'll see. And you too."

Self-righteous…

"I was thinking I would love for us to have a baby, Jazzy."

Not on your fucking life!

"Wouldn't that be great?"

I feigned happiness. "Yeah…sure baby." He grinned. "I would love to have children with you."

"I was thinking about calling Selena as soon as we get back so we can talk to her about getting started."

I faked a smile and nodded. "That will be great. Selena is a good woman."

"Good." He pulled my chin up with his finger and kissed me on the lips. He gently pulled me on the side of the house behind a hedge. I knew there wouldn't be another scene like it was earlier because now everyone was home and would hear, but I still wanted to avoid getting choked or silently beaten. I was not feeling up to this with him but I kissed him back since we were somewhat secluded now.

"Can I have you tonight, Jazzy?" So now he's asking me? Do I really have a choice?

"Baby, as much as I would love that…" He squatted on his heels and started massaging my cock. It did nothing for me. After a few minutes he stopped.

"What's the matter, baby? You're not enjoying me?"

Fuck no!

"No, no, baby it's not that. I'm just really tired and sleepy. Besides it's cold out here."

He looked perturbed. "Well let's go upstairs and I'll help you warm up."

I knew better than to argue further with him. If I told him I wanted to stay downstairs, he would get angry. We went back into the house and I looked over at my brother who was still sleeping like a baby. I followed James upstairs where he was standing at the door waiting for me.

He smiled closing and locking the door behind us and despite me telling him I was tired, wasted no time grabbing my ass. He guided me to the floor and got on top of me. He started grinding his rod against me and stifled his pleasure.

"You like that baby?" He asked huskily in my ears, his voice barely audible. "You always like my cock, don't you sweetheart."

It was hopeless. He would get what he wanted regardless. After all, I was his little bitch…good for nothing but spreading wide for him. I consent to his desire by not resisting when he forcefully pulled my pants down. I swear he got off on this aggression thing. He pulled them to my knees.

"That's it baby." He whispered. "Raise that ass for daddy."

This is so disgusting.

I heard him open some lube and before long he was inside of me. He lowered us both back to the floor, and began to thrust forcefully inside of me. He held his hand of over my mouth while burying is face in the side of my neck. It hurt both physically and emotionally for him to take me this way after what he'd done to me. My tender cries were silence by the force of his hand over my mouth as he continued take ownership of me once again. Warm tears fell onto his hand as he held me down and that made him pump harder. I'd never known James to be this silent during sex, but he stifled every ounce of his pleasure and basked in it somewhere in the deepest part of his mind.

It wasn't long before he finished and pulled out of me, leaving me to stain the cold hardwood floor with tears that he'd caused. I heard him walk over to the bed, take his bullets out of his gun and put it back in his suitcase. He really did have a loaded gun. My life was at the mercy of a maniac.

He got back in the bed and not one time did he ask me to join him, nor did I want to. If I had my way, this would be the final time he would have me so intimately yet destructively. He'd ruined our marriage and thought he'd taken everything from me. Little did he know I still had some fight left inside of me. He didn't take it all and if I could find the strength, he would never take it.

I stood up from the floor and pulled my pants back up and went into my bathroom. I was horrified by what I saw in the mirror. My eyes were sunken and I looked down right conquered. James had destroyed my self-confidence, my dignity, my sense of self-worth or right and wrong…Kate was right. He was toxic and this relationship had to end before it killed me one way or the other.

I understood that a lot of abusive behaviors were ingrained and that they may be a part of a person's personality. I don't know…maybe James did have demons. The jury was still out on that one, but one thing he was right about was that he needed help. I knew he'd had a troubled childhood and that some of his abusiveness may have stemmed from that. I didn't know. I just knew he wasn't able to recognize the root of the problem and even if he did, I seriously doubted he knew how to resolve it.

I stood there watching him lying on my bed and clenched my fist out of frustration. I was frustrated because I couldn't change him. I couldn't make him take responsibility for his actions and beliefs about who he was as a person or as my husband. No one would be able to do that for him. He had to be the one to do it. I seriously doubted he could even sit down and explain to someone if he could describe how he felt when I "tempted" him or wound him up, or how he felt after one of his blood curdling abusive episodes.

What I really wanted to say to him in the yard or at least challenge himself to do was to ask himself some questions. He needed to stop and ask himself why he regularly vented his frustration on me, and why he thought I was making a big deal out of nothing or as he put it, 'being so dramatic.'

He should ask why he kept telling himself that what he's doing is not so bad and that so-and-so would be far worse. Why was it that he thought that if I didn't wind him up on purpose, then the abuse would not happen? Why did he convince himself that his husband deserved the abuse? These were the hard questions that I was afraid James would never be able to answer…whether by his own choice or not. To answer them affirmatively would mean that he had to take full responsibility for his actions. Somehow I knew that would never happen.

I finished cleaning up in the bathroom and walked over to the bed. We just looked at each other for a moment before I spoke.

"Is it alright if I go back into the living room?" Once again I was asking permission to do something as if I was his child.

"No." That was all he said. I should have known better than to ask. His resentful ass truly did believe I wanted to be with Kevin like that. I just shook my head and reminded myself that it was almost over. I walked around and climbed on the bed beside him. He rolled over and pulled me snuggly to his body. "This is where you belong." He whispered and locked me down with a vice grip. "In my bed, not beside another man."

It's almost over Jasper. Today is the last day.

"I just want to remind you of your promise. We left Forks together and we will return together. Now you can either go dead or alive, but either way your body will leave with me on Sunday. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, sir, I hear you." Dead will be the only way I leave with you.

"That's my good boy." He muzzled my neck and whispered in my ear. "Oh and Jasper…don't try anything funny because you won't be the only one who gets hurt."

Oddly enough, his threat didn't bother me as much as it had yesterday. I guess I was tired and had enough. Part of me believed that he was serious, but another part of me believed that he didn't have the balls to do it.

I sighed and kept quiet as he pinned me to his body. James was seriously fucked up. He had some serious stuff going on inside of him. I knew from my research that there were several perpetrator programs available throughout Washington state, though not in all areas as yet, and many of them accepted self-referrals—as if he would check himself into one. To my knowledge, there were several counselors and other professionals who were qualified to help him. Some of them ran home study courses for abusers which looked to the underlying beliefs and attitudes that created an environment in which abuse in the first place. The courses are designed to work with the most dangerous violent offenders, but James would never go for that.

According to Kate, darling husband could potentially face prosecution for his violence against me. The court had the option of referring him to one of those programs or possibly other programs ran by the probation service. His attendance would not be optional and would be a condition of his probation.

I had basically decided that if Kate recommended couple counseling or mediation that I would not go for it. Violence has been, and was still an issue in our relationship and that stuff would not work. I wanted out. James would make a thousand promises that he never intended to keep just to keep me bridled under his thumb. In my opinion, if I were to even consider staying with James, which hell would freeze over first, the abuse would need to be dealt with before any form of joint counseling or mediation could be effective. Otherwise it would just deflect from the actual problem and fudge responsibility issues.

I believed that James could benefit from anger management courses, but truthfully they would probably not be effective at dealing with his abusive behavior because the abuse he inflicted on me was less about being able to control anger. I was more about his basic attitudes and control issues. In short, anger management was only part of the problem. The real root of the problem went much deeper than either of us realized.

James was a master of manipulations. He was pleading for help outside to save his ass. He couldn't possibly believe that getting help, as he put it, would save our relationship. What he needed to understand was that I didn't want it anymore. I was tired and fed up with it. He could go see all the counselors he wanted or take hundreds of classes, and that would not erase the hurt and damaged he'd caused. Too much had already happened and my trust in him could not be rebuilt.

I was anticipating him pulling out all of his cards once I split. Sadly as it would be, he would refer himself to a perpetrator program in a bid to stop me from leaving, which was basically what he was suggesting outside. He would do it to persuade me to come back and give our relationship another try. I knew James, he would take something that was supposed to end with a positive outcome and approach it with the wrong motives and use it as a tool to get or keep what he wanted…me! I had no doubt in my mind that the programs could help him if he wanted to change, but he didn't. He'd pretty much said so himself, and because of this he was going to have to accept that he'd lost my love forever and that he would never hurt me again.

The sun started peeping through the curtains and I heard some movement downstairs. James heard it as well. It was Kevin and he was looking for me.

"Jazz?" He called softly.

I moved to get off the bed, but James held me tighter. "Jay, just let me tell him I'm okay."

He clamped down on my wrist.

"Ow, Jay." My voice was still low, but louder than I had been speaking.

"Why would you need to tell him that?" He seethed. "What have you told him? Why would he even think you are not okay with your husband?"

"Jay, let go, you're hurting me." He ignored me.

"Jazz, where are you?" Kevin called again and I heard him coming upstairs. If he heard me, he would literally kick the door down to get in here to me.

I decided to just let him know before this got out of hand. "I'm in here, Kev."

"Are you good?" There was no mistaking the tone of his voice. He was clearly letting me and James know that if I was not, he was about to take action.

"James, please let me go." I whispered. "I'm just going to the door."

"What did you tell him?" He bore down on me.

"Nothing…" I tried to wiggle free of him. "I'm coming Kev."

"Stop fucking with me Jasper." He warned.

"I'm not. I'm just going to the door." I repeated.

He let me up and I walked over to the door and cracked it open, deliberately leaving the lights off so that he could not see that I had been crying.

"I was just getting ready to wash up." I lied.

"Dad just text me and he's already up and ready to go for a run. He wants you to come with us."

James would never go for that besides I wasn't feeling up to that, but there was no way in hell Kevin was going to leave me here with James.

"Okay, just let me change and get my shoes."

He nodded. "Oh, good morning Uncle JP." He said turning around.

"Good morning, Dad." I greeted him.

"Morning, boys." He came and stood next to Kevin obviously thinking the same thing he was. "Mickey wants to go for run. You boys game?"

"Sure." We said and I heard movement behind me. "I'll be right down."

They both looked at me and I pleaded silently with them to just let it go.

"Five minutes." My Dad stated. "Then I'm coming for you."

I smiled at him. "Okay, Dad. I just need to change."

"Okay." And with that they left.

I closed the door and nearly tripped over James when I turned around. His eyes were liquid death. I tried to slide past him but he wasn't having that. I backed away from him in case he decided to punch me or something. Surprisingly, his face softened.

"Well aren't you going to invite me, honey?" He asked. I knew that would go over just peachy with the guys. "If not, I would probably be just fine here with your mother."

I felt my eyes bulge. Surely he wouldn't hurt her. He was full of shit. He was just trying to get a rise out of me.

"I'm sure the guys wouldn't mind if you came along."

He smiled triumphantly. "Great. I could use a good tread."

I nodded and quickly brushed my teeth and changed. By the time I was putting on my shoes James was coming out of the bathroom looking like he'd literally been up all night…oh wait, he had. Son of bitch!

We went downstairs and the looks on their faces when they saw James coming down almost made me laugh. I smiled sideways at them and went into the kitchen to get some water to drink before our run. James said something to them but they both ignored him and drank their water. He was little offset by that, but drank his without another word.

We filed outside only to be joined by Uncle Mike within a couple of minutes. Saye and Levi were with him and when he saw James he pretty had the same reaction that my Dad and Kevin had. I smiled and he rolled his eyes. We stretched and warmed up for our run and off we went. I was sure they wanted to get me alone so they could talk to me, but James ran quick interference on that.

James was an excellent runner, and so was I, but he lagged behind them and made me run beside him by pulling my arm until I was jogging at a steady pace beside him. I shook my head and kept running. This was going to be a long day.

A/N: James is a bitch. There I said it. I am so ready for him to get his ass served on somebody's plates. Jasper has had enough. He's ready to make that first step.

Please review. I want to know your thoughts about the characters in this chapter. Thanks for reading.