Yeah, yeah, yeah... I'm starting something new. I'm having issues with everything but Soulless, and if I'm going to avoid getting burnt out on that one, I needs me something fresh. Never fear... it'll have regular updates, and might even give me the kick in the ass I need for Cover Up.

I feel as though I'm cheating you a bit after having posted several chapters that are, on average, over 7,000 words, but... we'll get there.

This timeline falls during Twilight, and I'm gonna be nixing the baseball game. Everything else happens, just not the game, and what followed. So... Bella was never bitten by James.

Enjoy!

~Speklez

I was become increasingly convinced that a vampire was in fact perfectly capable of getting a migraine. I had my feet kicked up on a table, a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the fingers of the other, my head dropped back against the headrest of my chair and my eyes closed. For the last however fucking long, I have been listening to Charlotte harp about this and that. What it was, I had no idea. I stopped listening what felt like hours ago. However, just because I wasn't paying the damnedest bit of attention didn't mean it was as easy to block out the sound of a banshee during mating season. All that harpin' because I got arrested for drunken disorderly after I caught her with someone else.

When I brought my beer to my lips, I actually winced slightly at the shriek that came out of her mouth.

"Are you even listening to me, Peter?"

I swallowed the mouthful of delicious and shook my head. "Not in the slightest." Rolling my head in her direction, I opened my eyes, locking them on hers. "Listen, Sugar. If ya gonna bitch, go bite the ear off the other fella for whatever the fuck you wanna. I really don't care to listen to it anymore. I told ya I was done and I fuckin' meant it. Why you're still here is beyond me."

She huffed. "I am trying to explain, Peter."

I snorted. "Explain what, exactly? Why ya had another man's dick in ya mouth? I ain't really got no need for them linguistics. Ya fucked up. Own it, deal with it, and move the fuck on. I'm gonna drink this beer, prolly have another, and then bounce." Taking a pull from my long neck, I licked my lips. "Not much around here worth my time anymore."

Charlotte bit her lip, her eyes glossing over making me sigh. Here we go with the water works. She fucks up and apparently I'm the one that needs to feel bad about it. If she thought a teary apology was gonna change my mind, she was out of her's.

I just lifted my hand that held my cigarette. "Save it, Char. Nothing you say is gonna undo whatcha did. Get your shit and get out."

Why is it, when a conversation is clearly over, females decide it's nothing more than an intermission and the finality is actually up for debate? I got up to get another beer, and she thought it was a good idea to block my path to the kitchen. I've known the betty for nearly a century, so I knew it wasn't going to be that easy, but damn it; I really wasn't in the mood for this to continue. If I was the kinda guy that put my hands on a female, I would move her, but my mama raised me better than that, and even in death, I wasn't that bad.

She was pushing her luck, though.

Her eyes were still well, but they were black and hard, and I sighed. "You mean to tell me you've never once stepped out on me?"

I crossed my arms. "No, Charlotte; I haven't. And, after 97 years, that shoulda told ya somethin'. Clearly, it didn't, so there ain't nothin' left ta say."

"I'm not leaving, Peter. We can fix this. We can..."

Bending at the waist, I got nose to nose with her, my eyes still bright red from my last meal. "I don't want to." I stayed in that position for a moment longer, making sure she understood my meaning before standing to my full height, a full foot and a half over her head, and looked down my nose at her. "You a whore, Charlotte. Nothin' gonna change that. If you think I don't know 'bout them other times ya stepped out, you outcha damn mind. Just cause I don't say nothin', don't mean I don't know nothin'. You been 'round long 'nuff ta know I know everythin'. I just don't care no more."

Her lips were pressed together in a tight, thin line, and the bottom one quivered slightly. Her body shook in shallow tremors and her voice wavered. "I'm not leaving. This is my house. We wouldn't have it if I didn't push for it, so it's mine."

I was pretty fucking sure I bought it, but all I did was raise a brow. "'Ight. Fair enough." Side stepping her, I headed for the steps instead of the kitchen. She was right. She wanted it, so I bought it when I wouldn't have otherwise. I didn't care for the area so I spent as little time here as I could. I had never been a fan of New York. I much preferred to stay further south. Sure, it had its drawbacks in some ways, but there was way more to do.

The entire way up the steps, she followed, continuing to try to plead a case that had no defence. It would have been comical if it wasn't so fucking annoying. It wasn't even sad, which I was pretty sure was what she was going for. Every word out of her mouth did nothing but grate my nerves and set my teeth on edge. Did she really think a play by play would put her back in my good graces? Fat fucking chance.

There were three doors in the place that were designed to not break under any circumstances, and the one to my office was one of them. So, when I was through the arch way, I didn't even look back as I slammed it closed behind me, a smile coming to my lips at the silence that followed. It wasn't sound proof, but the action seemed to have at least momentarily shocked her into silence.

Rolling my head on my shoulders, I started making the mental list of what all I had to do as I rubbed my hands together. Ordering them in a list of importance, I went to my desk and turned on my laptop. While it was firing up, I broke the lock on the bottom drawer, since I didn't have my keys on me, and pulled out the three file binders that laid inside. Opening them in turn, I set the one I needed on my desk while the other two got set on the shredder for now before I turned my attention to the file I kept. It contained my personal information such as aliases, banking information, social security numbers, house and property deeds, things like that. Flipping through the deeds, I found the one for this place and pulled it out, setting it on the desk for the time being and turned to my computer when it was ready for me.

I've been fucking with bank records for so long it wasn't even a challenge to go in and remove Charlotte from all my accounts, closing all joint accounts, rerouting the money in them back into mine where it belonged, and taking my name off the paid off purchase agreement for the property here in New York and putting Charlotte's on it. Then, just for good measure, I changed the last name on those accounts so she couldn't pull any stupid shit and try to undo it all. I would just have to let Jasper know I finally took him up on his offer to use his surname. Never used it before now because Char and I bounced back and forth between my human last name and hers.

To my knowledge, she didn't know the name Whitlock. Hell, I couldn't say for certain she even knew Jasper's name was Jasper. Char was sired by some little pissant named Herman, or something close to it, so didn't have any connection to him other than me. Since I hardly ever call him anything but Major, that's all she ever knew him as... which was exactly what I wanted. I would need new identification, but that was easy as shit to get.

When that was done, I grabbed the top binder off the printer and pulled out the banking information that was inside. Leaning back in my seat and propping my chin on my palm, I looked at the accounts I set up in her name only and put serious consideration into closing them as well. I would have left them alone, or at least left one of them open, had she not started screaming at me again, thinking she had a place to try and tell me what to do. So, I erased them all and got my money back. She could always sell the fucking house if she needed something.

Printing off some paperwork, I set to work on shredding every last scrap of paper in the other two folders. All of Charlotte's alises, bank accounts, every card that was there that didn't have her actual name, and miscellaneous other shit that had accumulated over time, a spark in my eyes when I got to the marriage bullshit. She could hear the shredder, and it only made her scream louder.

I actually smiled as I pulled out my Zippo and dropped it in the basket, watching it burn for a few minutes, ensuring there was no saving any of it.

Powering down my laptop, I grabbed it and the charger, my file folder, and left the office, passing by Charlotte without second glance and went to 'our' room. I was actually pretty shocked to see her purse sitting on the dresser, and shook my head. Now, a smart person would hide that shit, but clearly, she wasn't that bright. Setting my shit on the dresser, I pulled her wallet out of the bag, and proceeded to snap every card but her ID that was in there into tiny little pieces. She came sliding into the room just in time to watch me crush the cell phone in my hand.

When she bellowed something about that being 'hers', I just grinned. "I bought it, so it mine. Don't really need two phones, though."

I was positive she would be crying were it possible. "You left me nothing?"

I snorted as I picked back up the file and my computer, turning away and heading to the closet. There wasn't anything here I didn't have elsewhere but I wasn't leaving without my hat or boots. Taking a seat on the chair that was in the center of the ridiculous sized closet, I spoke as I pulled on my boots. "Nonsense, ya twit. I left ya plenty. This house, everythin' in it, and ya car." Draping my arms over my thighs, I locked eyes with her. "You chose that other fella. Have him take care a ya. It ain't my job no more." Grabbing the only two things I was taking with me, I snagged my hat off the hook on the inside of the door, unplugged my cell from the charger by the bed, and went to leave, only to have my path blocked once again.

Charlotte looked up at me, her eyes beseeching. "Please, Peter. I don't want him."

I just shrugged and, finally having enough, actually shoved her out of my way. Glancing back at her, I was completely void of all emotion as I looked at her against the wall. "Well, I don't want you."