Jasper could smell her a mile away, and then there she was, perched on an immaculately maintained Cannondale only a few taunting feet away as they both waited for a red light. Jasper glanced at her, thankful that his helmet's visor was secure. It didn't help much, but it definitely kept his hands on the handlebars of his bike rather than her neck, which pulsed heavily and was perfumed with citrus-smelling sweat. She looked over at him and smiled. The light changed to green, but Jasper hesitated a moment, watched her go. He cursed under his breath and hit the throttle on his motorcycle.

Things were quiet in the Cullen household. Carlisle was in his office, doing paperwork. Esme was getting the grease stains out of Rosalie's shirts. Rosalie was changing the flat tire on Alice's Porsche, with Alice अभिनय as a jack. Bella and Edward were off in the forest with Renesmee. Emmett was out mudding in his Jeep. Jasper sat in the living room, staring into space. The girl he'd seen drifted through his mind, endlessly teasing him with her sapphire eyes and कारमेल hair. And that scent- god, he was addicted. Lemony and sugary, his mouth watered at the thought of her throbbing jugular. The memory seemed to grow stronger, fresher. He could swear he smelled her. His hands balled into fists, his jaw clenched.
"Look what I won at the carnival!" Emmett boomed, kicking open the front door. If Jasper's दिल still beat, it would've stopped. In his brother's massive arms was the girl. Her own lean, muscular arms were tethered around Emmett's neck. Her ankles were elevated, one sporting an ugly, swelled bruise. As she turned away from his chest, Jasper, and Esme, who'd come in from the laundry room, gasped. The girl's right eye with circled with a dark bruise. Road rash burned the skin below her black eye. Tiny rubble and tears peppered her Nike jacket, which was also fringed with what appeared to be blood. Jasper's knuckles whitened immensely as he stood from his spot on the couch.
"I'll get Carlisle," he breathed heavily, using all of his strength to not take advantage of his superhuman speed to get away- या to kill her before she could blink.
"Emmett, who is this girl?" Esme asked, dumbfounded, as Jasper walked deeper into the house.
"This is Lily," Emmett replied, "she was limping down the side of the road, carrying a wrecked bike. Thought she could use a hand."
"I hit the wrong brake trying to miss a deer and flipped over the handlebars," the girl, Lily, said. She laughed nervously. "Good thing I had a हेलमेट on, right?"
Jasper raised his hand to knock on the door to Carlisle's office, but it swung open before he had a chance to. "Jasper," Carlisle कहा softly with a small nod. He walked past him without further regard.
"Who's this?" Carlisle asked, smiling, as he walked into the living room.
"Lily," Emmett said, setting her down on the coffee table. "She needs to be doctored up."
"You're the man to do it!" Alice beamed, suddenly appearing behind Esme. Rosalie nodded, following Alice.
"You've certainly gotten yourself in a bind, haven't you?" Carlisle smiled, sweeping Lily's thick hair from her face to get a better look at her bruises. A bit of blush spread across her face and she grinned mischievously.
"Yeah," she कहा softly.
Carlisle chuckled.
"You need to be और careful," Jasper कहा bluntly, arms folded across his chest as he stared her down.
"Uh, yeah," she कहा shyly, avoiding his amber gaze. "I'm kinda accident prone." She gave him a tentative smile. "Wait... Didn't I see आप earlier? At the light?"
Jasper cleared his throat. "Yes'm."
"Nice bike. What is she, a Ducati?" she asked, grinning.
He nodded, teeth clenched behind his forced smile. He felt her begin to warm up to him.
She flinched, breaking eye contact, as Carlisle began weaving a threaded needle through a deep gash on the back of her shoulder. द्वारा the time she opened her eyes, Jasper was gone.

Deep in the woods behind the Cullen house, Jasper ran a trembling hand through his honey-colored hair. That spark of interest he'd felt run through her, the way her eyes widened as she smiled at him... He could've taken her right then. The only thing that stopped him was the thought of never smelling her killer scent ever again.