Chapter Thirteen

Jasper

"Right, out Nelson."

He smirked as he got out of the car and swung at me but he was way too slow and he'd telegraphed his move. I smiled back and shook my head,

"Tad you have no idea what you are doing but I'm going to give you a free lesson in how to beat up someone properly. A lesson I learned so many years ago I forget."

"Oh about a hundred, maybe even more Major."

"Thanks Peter."

Tad was looking a little less sure of himself now. I think the rank of Major startled him somewhat.

"Now I'm a Southern boy and we learned to respect the fairer sex at our mothers knee. You never hit a lady, ever. You treat them with the softest touch like a delicate flower. You obviously never learned that lesson so I'm gonna teach you it now."

Peter grabbed the other guy and held him tightly,

"You watch and learn, it might just save your life."

As Tad swung again I caught his hand and twisted it slowly until I heard the bone snap. He screamed but I ignored it.

"You broke Bella's arm so I break yours."

I pushed him to the floor and before he could scramble out of the way I kicked him hard in the ribs several times feeling the bones crack with each kick, an eye for an eye.

He was screaming and coughing, trying to curl into a ball to protect himself but I dragged him up by the hair and put my hand around his jaw.

"You broke that girls jaw by kicking her in the face, I want to see your pain so I'm going to do it with my hand. He tried to pull free of my grasp but it was useless. I squeezed relentlessly and he gurgled before hearing the crack as the bone shattered. I dropped him to the floor and looked at Peter,

"What do you think Captain? Has he learned his lesson?"

Peter dropped to a crouch beside the groaning man and lifted his head up to shrieks of pain.

"Nope don't seem like it to me Major."

I nodded.

"Me neither."

Within seconds he stopped squirming, the final kick snapping his neck.

Then I turned to the other guy who had been too petrified to run.

"Have you learned your lesson?"

He nodded frantically and I looked at Peter who also nodded,

"I think maybe he has."

I walked slowly to him and took his face in my hand,

"You listen to me good, you saw what I did to your friend?"

He tried to nod his head and I smelled ammonia, he'd peed his pants.

"That's nothing compared to what I'll do to you if I hear you told anyone about what happened here. If I ever see you again you are a dead man, if I hear of you ever touching a woman with violence I will find you and kill you. Understood?"

He nodded wildly

"I can't hear you"

"Yes I understand."

"Good, now I suggest you get your belongings and go tonight that way I won't see you again and have to kill you."

I shoved him hard enough to knock him backwards several feet then he scrambled back to his feet and ran as if the devil were on his heels and maybe he was.

"What do we do with this piece of shit?"

Peter kicked Tad's limp body.

I picked it up and threw it in the car unscrewing the gas tank and punching a hole in it from underneath before watching as the gas started draining onto the road. Looking at Peter he smiled and took his lighter out flicking it a couple of times as we watched the gas trail snake across the road. Then he threw it into the gas and it burst into flames running back towards the car and it was soon engulfed in flames. We watched for a few seconds then got in the pick up and drove back to town fast enough to avoid the emergency services.

Charlie

The cops came to speak to me the next morning, suspicious because the boy who'd beaten Bella had been found in his burned out car and his two friends were both missing. They soon tracked my movements, I'd been at the hospital at the relevant time and apologised for having to do so.

"Was it deliberate? Murder?"

"We're not sure yet but it looked like he'd had a good beating before the car was torched. The doctor who looked at the body first thought his neck was broken along with several ribs, his jaw and his arm although until he does a proper Post Mortem he can't be sure. We'll check on Bella's boyfriend and the Whitlocks but it's not a great loss to the world and it wasn't his first beating."

I watched as they sauntered out, wondering if it had been Jasper and Peter. They didn't strike me as particularly violent men but the injuries were so similar to Bella's that it was suspicious.

Thinking of the two of them conjured them up along the corridor only this time they were accompanied by a woman, she must be Peters wife.

"I just had the cops here, Tad Nelson was murdered yesterday and his car set alight."

"Really? So there is justice in this world"

Jasper sounded callously indifferent and Peter didn't seem any more concerned. He introduced his wife to me and we went into Bella's room together.

She lay back in bed and I could see she'd been crying again, she must be very distressed. Jasper went to her, kneeling down and taking her hand in his. She pulled free to trace something on his hand so he concentrated then nodded and turned to me,

"Bella doesn't want to go back to Forks"

"Oh, and you know this how?"

He beckoned me over and put my hand flat on the sheet, his touch so cold I thought he must have really bad circulation.

"Concentrate Chief"

Bella's finger spelled out words on the back of my hand,

"No home, No Forks, stay Jasper."

I looked into her bloodshot eye, the other still swollen shut,

"You want to stay here with Jasper?"

She tried to nod then traced "Yes" on my hand. I sighed disappointed and turned to him,

"It looks like she's staying here then but I'm not leaving her yet so I guess I'll take you up on your offer of hospitality if it still stands"

Charlotte smiled and took my arm,

"Good. Now you come with me and I'll take you shopping, I have no idea what you like to eat Charlie. I can call you Charlie can't I?"

I was putty in her hands!

Bella

I was so grateful that Jasper had understood me, I wanted to thank him but I couldn't talk, it was too painful. He helped me sit up enough to drink some soup through a straw and I felt so helpless. He read my emotions because he stroked the unbruised side of my face and spoke to me softly,

"Bella, don't Feel helpless, you just need help for now. One day I might need the same from you and don't forget you held out the hand of friendship and trust first. For now relax and let me take care of you."

I sighed feeling calm and peace flood into me as he eased my pain and distress.

Peter walked over and crouched to look in my eyes,

"Bella you look like a fucking train wreck. Anyway just to let you know that your problem has been take care of."

I knew what he meant and although I knew it meant Tad was dead I couldn't regret Peters words.