Still Breathing [Jacob Black]

Chapter Twelve

Felicity

It was a blur. One moment, I was falling, falling, falling.

The next I was heaving, more water pouring out of me than I'd thought could fit in my body.

Then I was up, up, up, in warmth and strong arms with Paul's voice chattering away at me in a way that was almost...frantic?

"I know your car is at Sam and Emily's, but Jake's place is closer, so we're going to steal his. He loves that stupid rabbit, but something tells me he won't care if I use it to get you home and safe." The arms holding me bounced. "Do you hear me? Are you alive? I hear your heart beating, but some response from you would be fucking golden right now."

He sounded so worried, I couldn't deny him. I opened my mouth to try to force words out, but ended up wheezing instead.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Paul rushed to say, his hands squeezing where they held me. "That's enough of a response for me. Don't die trying to talk to me, okay? I can talk enough for the both of us." He chuckled, but it was unsteady.

Blinking, I tried to look up at him. Did he appear as off kilter as he sounded?

Paul made a choking noise. "Oh, thank fuck. About time you opened those damn eyes, doll."

My mouth was dry and my voice was a croak, but I still told him, "I'm fine."

He chuckled again, this time sounding less unhinged. "Right. I'll believe you when you're not on the verge of turning blue. Let's get you home."

I refused to give his words much thought—if I was actually turning blue, that was scary—as he carried me up the driveway of a small house. Before we reached the porch, however, Paul stopped next to a small Volkswagen. He pulled open the passenger's side door and slid me inside.

Resting his hands on my shoulders, he met my gaze. It was getting harder to hold my eyes open. My entire body felt drained. "Wait here. I'm going inside for a quick second to grab the keys. Do not fall asleep. Understood?"

A yawn overtook me, leading to another coughing fit. Crap, that hurt. When I could breathe again, I nodded. "Yeah."

For some reason, he didn't take me on my word. Probably because my eyes kept sliding closed. His hands on my shoulders shook me gently. "I'm serious, doll. Stay awake. You need to stay up until we get you warm."

Though I was so, so tired and my thoughts were sluggish, I could see his reasoning. Barely. But still, I saw it. So I said, "Fine. Hurry."

This time he did not argue with me. "Be right back." Then he was gone, loping toward the small house and through the door like he owned the place. Was this his house? Or wait, hadn't he said we were taking Jacob's car? Did that mean this was where Jacob lived?

My brain was full of questions but too exhausted to connect any of the dots. Now was clearly not the time to try to figure anything out. Or think at all, really. What I needed was...

Sleep.

Lots and lots of sleep.

But not yet. Paul had asked me to stay awake, and he had a good reason. Something about turning blue? Turning blue wasn't good. Staying awake was definitely important.

I needed to stay awake.

Awake.

Awake.

Awa...what was taking him so long?

I was two seconds away from giving up and taking a tiny nap when the driver's side door opened. Paul took his seat, wasting no time slamming the door, starting the car, and driving away. He stole glances at me out of the corner of his eye as he steered us away from La Push.