The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter CXIX

I made sure that Dad got off to the house, promising him that I would "let" him go to the Cullen house in the next few days. "Dad, Jake is kind of like the younger chief of the tribe. He can't just let you go to the house. There's a lot that he has to talk about with the Council and with Billy. They're responsible for human life," I explained.

"But you will talk to him?" he pressed.

"Of course, Dad. I talk to Jake about everything," I said.

"And talking is all you're going to do?" He had that knowing look in his eye. I just rolled my own blue ones and looked at him. "I thought you guys had an agreement with Billy about no funny business," he groaned.

"Dad, we weren't doing anything. I know that it was a long time ago when dinosaurs were still roaming the world, but you were a teenager," I reminded him.

"That was a low blow," he laughed. "But yes, I was a teenager. And that's how we had had Bella." I just rolled my eyes again. "I'm serious; I'm not ready to be a grandpa just yet, Ryanne."

"Ew, Dad, come on. I'm not going to be a teen parent. We're not doing anything that could lead to that," I said, instantly uncomfortable with the way that the conversation had turned. The truth was the things that Jake and I were doing could lead to kids, but we were being safe about things. Way safer than some of our friends. "Unless you want me to go into details, I would suggest that we drop this subject."

Dad blushed a little but he'd nodded and agreed to drop the whole thing. Now I was just waiting for Jake to come back home. We had a few things that we needed to talk about. The first of which was his temper. "Hey," he called shyly. "I, uh, I sent my dad over to Sue's. It's just us," he added. I just nodded, fighting the urge to pull my whole lip into my mouth with anger. "Please tell me the guns are down?"

"Questionable," I said. Jake stepped into the living room. I was sure that I was a sight to see. My hair was crazy around me because I had refused to tame it. My mouth was set in a hard line because I was fucking livid that he had phased like that. And I was glaring at him, or the area that I knew he would arrive in.

"I'm sorry," he muttered the second he saw me.

"Really? Where the hell was that sorry a few hours ago? My dad isn't any younger than Harry. What would you have done if you had given him a heart attack? Jake, what if he died? We didn't know if he could handle that kind of information!" I snapped. I had tried to play it off when Jake had first phased. I had stayed calm so that I could be with my father and explain things to him. But I had been freaking out, just distracting myself to keep from exploding.

"Your dad is strong, Annie. And I didn't mean to hurt him. It wasn't like I did it on purpose. I just lost my temper. Your sister is trying to kill people, I swear it," he growled. He sank down on the couch next to me, leaning into my side. "I'm sorry that you're angry with me."

"Angry doesn't even begin it, Jake. You give my sister shit about the danger that she puts our family in, but you just did the same exact thing!" I shouted at him. "Let's be honest here, Jake; you lost your temper. We know better than anyone what could happen if you were too close."

Jake was looming over me like he was going to intimidate me and get me to back away. "Don't compare me to your sister, Ryanne. Don't ever do it. Your sister is a monster, whether she was human or vampire. She has always been a selfish bitch," he growled at me.

"I don't know what you think scaring me is going to do for you," I managed to say without a shaking voice, "but all you're doing is pissing me the fuck off. I wasn't comparing you with Bella. I was just saying that you were being hypocritical. You put my dad in danger and you may not realize it, but you came pretty damn close to him telling me that I couldn't see you again."

I saw the pained look spear through his face as he realized the implications of his actions. "I'm sorry, Annie. That wasn't the intention. Hell, I wasn't trying to show him what was going on. It was all an accident. But isn't it for the better that he knows now? He'll want to stay away and he'll understand what's going on down here," he said. He was right about one thing: Dad would know what was going on down here.

But there was still the other part of his statement that I needed to deal with. "Jake... Dad wants to go down to the Cullens tomorrow and see Bella," I said in a quiet voice. "I'm going to go with him."

"No; fuck no. Annie, hell no. I'm not letting you go down to that house again. You live for pissing people off. What about all of the vampires that are down there? What are you going to do with them?" He was holding his hands in the air like he had pointed out a flaw in my logic, like I couldn't go now.

"I'll call the Cullens and ask for all the witnesses to leave. And I'll have you there with me," I said, biting the inside of my lip.

"You want me to go back down there? You want me to hang out with the vampires for an afternoon?" he snarled.

"No; I want you to come down and protect me and my father. That's your job. We're your family, Jake. So you can go down there with us or you can suck it up and let us go alone," I said, fighting the urge to fidget. It was a nervous habit that I had to get rid of like. Kind of like a poker tell. When I was really worried about thing, I would pick at my finger nails and bite my lower lip, which meant that Jake would then know that I really wanted him to come down to the Cullen house with me.

"Fine," he said tossing his arms up in the air. "You guys can go, but you have to be safe," he growled. I knew that my heart probably stopped beating when he stopped talking. He wasn't going with me? But... But I couldn't protect my dad if something went wrong. I couldn't protect myself. I was going to be stuck there. I would have to calm myself down and get things together. "What's wrong? Talk to me," he begged.

Here we go again. I was so reliant on Jake and I didn't want to admit that I needed him to come with me. I used to be this fearless girl, willing to stand up to anything and anyone. And now I hide behind Jake. But I really wanted him to come down there with me; I really needed him to be there with me. "Jake, I need you to go to the Cullens' with me. I can't go by myself and I can't let my dad go by himself. There are too many risks," I whispered.

Jake laughed. He laughed at me and my fears. His arms snaked around me and pulled me tight against his side. He was still laughing, his chest vibrating and trembling underneath me when I looked up at him. "I would never let you go there by yourself or just with your dad, Ryanne. And the fact that you thought that I would," he trailed off, chuckles swallowing his words. "I just like hearing you tell me that you need me," he said simply.

My face fell and a mixture of anger and betrayal washed over me. "Oh stop it," Jake said, tapping my arm lightly. "You like hearing me say that I love you and I like hearing you say that you need me," he explained. "I'll tell you something really interesting," he tempted. I was still a little angry at him and not wanting to concede. "I like it almost as much as I like hearing you say that you love me." See, if was a good thing that I didn't concede. That wasn't worth a smile. Okay, it was. But I just didn't want to give him one. "Not even just a little smile?" he asked. I just stared at him through narrowed eyes. He pushed me down onto the couch and hovered over me, keeping his weight off me, but radiating his heat over me. "I," he whispered with his lips against my throat, "love," he pressed a soft kiss to my chin, "you."

It was hard to stay angry at the boy when he was doing things like that. He kissed my lips lightly, but I quickly changed that. He grabbed at my waist and rolled me over so that I was lying on top of him. His hands were grabbing at my waist, stinging and tingling just because of the touch. "Okay," I groaned, pulling away, "Dad already caught us once. Let's not have a repeat," I said, pushing off of him.

Jake grabbed me and pulled me into his arms again. "Let's go to the bedroom then," he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows. I just laughed while he whisked me away.