Still Breathing [Jacob Black]

Chapter Twenty

Felicity

Since things were sorted with Jacob, I figured it was time to stop being a wimp about the rest of his friends, too. I had my answers. Now I needed to accept them.

"Let's go," I said, standing up from the table.

Jacob followed behind me as I headed toward the door. "Where are we going, exactly?"

"To Sam's."

His hand caught my arm, gently stopping me before I could open the front door. "Maybe you want to change first? And put on some shoes?"

I looked down at myself, taking in my wrinkled clothes and bare feet. And now that he brought that to my attention, I figured my hair was probably a mess too. "Fair point. Give me a few minutes."

He smiled. "Sure, sure."

Twenty minutes later, we were well on our way to Sam's house and I was nervous enough to be fidgety. It made me wish Paul had come with us—he was good at distracting. Granted, he did so by acting like an asshole but it would have been appreciated for the first time ever right then. Instead, Paul had said he wanted to scope out some places we could move to. After the whole Cullen situation, he was aiming to find us an apartment closer to the rez. Just because we needed to stay in Forks didn't mean couldn't at least move closer to La Push.

So now I sat in the passenger's seat, my mind whirling with all the new information I'd learned today and wondering how the upcoming interaction would go—would I turn into a bundle of awkward now? I really hoped not—with no Paul to lighten things up.

Halfway there, Jacob reached over and took my hand, running his thumb over my palm. My nerves were still present, but the motion was soothing.

We pulled up in front of Sam and Emily's place, and though our hands remained entwined neither of us had said a word the entire drive over. Jacob probably knew there was nothing he could say to fix how I felt. His hand in mine was the only comfort right now.

He reclaimed my hand after we exited the car. We didn't knock, but instead just entered as if we had every right to do so. I suspected this was something the wolves did. There was a lot I didn't know about them—their specific dynamics and abilities, for instance—but I had a hunch that Sam and Emily's home was the epicenter location of the wolves. Because of this, I had another hunch that Sam was their leader...or whatever the official term they used was.

Jacob led me to their kitchen, where Emily was flitting around baking, Sam was leaning against the counter near her, and a couple of other people were sitting at the table. But I didn't register who they were because my gaze was locked on Sam.

The moment I stepped on the room, his eyes found me and I swear I saw his body relax. What did he have to be worried about? Surely Jacob or Paul had informed him I'd gotten away from that doctor just fine.

Pushing away from the counter, Sam strode over and pulled me into his arms. I was so shocked that for a second I stood there with my arms hanging at my sides. Then it hit me that he was hugging me—and I wrapped my arms around him to return the embrace.

Sam's arms tightened around me slightly. "I know there's a lot you need to know, but shit I'm glad you're okay, Felicity."

Oh. Well. That was sweet. "I am. I'm okay. We're all okay," I whispered back because I felt like he needed to hear it.

One more second of the hug and then Sam leaned back, smiling at me. "Sorry for getting weird. The pack is important to me; they're my family. And you're a part of that now."