Little Red (Jacob Seed)

14. Shower

Rieka waited around the cabin, still thinking over Joseph's words. Finally Jacob arrived home, she heard the front door open and jumped to her feet. She smiled brightly when Jacob walked into the room, but her smile fell when she saw the state of him. Jacob was covered in dirt and blood. He always comes home dirty, bloody and sweaty, but this was different. This was more than usual. "What happened to you?" she asked, concern clear in her eyes. A look that Jacob wasn't familiar with.

"The Whitetail Militia thought that it would be a good idea to try and attack one of our outposts. I decided to personally show them why that would be a bad idea" Jacob explained as he shrugged off his army jacket.

"Are you hurt?" she asked and hurried over to him. Taking the jacket off of him, she visually scanned his body.

"Rieka, calm down. I am fine, it's just dirt and it's not my blood. We had to clean up the casualties" Jacob explained. The woman let out a sigh of relief and smiled up at him. He couldn't help but look at her in amazement, she really cared about him and would do anything to help him. She had already forgiven him for all the awful things that he had done, Jacob was beginning to wonder if he could do anything that would scare her away.

"Alright, good" she nodded as she calmed down. "Go get a shower or something, I will wash your clothes" she smiled.

"What? You don't want me to be covered in dirt and blood?" Jacob asked teasingly as he stepped towards her.

"Come on, mountain man" Rieka laughed and shook her head before turning and walking away. Jacob smirked to himself before reaching forward and grabbing the back of her shirt, pulling her back into him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Jacob!" she shouted playfully as she spun around in his arms, placing her hands on his chest.

Rieka couldn't help but notice that this was rather out of character for Jacob. Sure, he was still teasing her which was nothing new but he was being more playful than usual. Maybe he was just in a good mood? Jacob would never admit it but he wanted to be better for her, to act a little softer towards her. It's what she deserves. Plus, he strangely enjoyed acting like this with Rieka. But he would never admit that, even to himself.

"You love it, don't lie to me" he smirked down at her and she blushed.

"Great, now I need another shower" Rieka mumbled as she looked down at herself, now covered in blood and dirt.

"Now that is a shame" he commented sarcastically and she suddenly became aware of his little plan. "Come on then. Let's get you cleaned up" he kissed her corner of her mouth before bending down and throwing her over his shoulder.

"Jacob!" Rieka yelped as she was thrown over the man's shoulder, he did it with so much ease. She pounded on his back as he walked them up the stairs, laughing to herself. "Put me down" she ordered as she kicked her legs around hopelessly.

"Behave" Jacob ordered back, slapping her ass causing her to yelp but continue to laugh loudly. Finally he placed her feet back on the ground, shutting the bathroom door behind him. "Happy now?" he asked and turned back to her. Rieka's hair was now a mess covering her face, she had her arms crossed and was pouting at him. "Aw, you're not mad at me are you?" Jacob asked teasingly as he walked over to her confidently and used his large hands to brush her hair out of her face. She didn't respond, just continued to pout. "Don't pout, Little Red" he said as he cupped her cheek and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. He felt a strange sense of pride when he saw her blush, the nickname still makes Rieka blush.

She stopped pouting and smiled as she lent into his touch, leaning into his body. "Fine, now get in the shower" she demanded and completely pulled away from Jacob.

"What? No kiss?" the soldier asked, chuckling deeply to himself.

"Not until you shower, you stink" Rieka smiled sarcastically before turning the shower on and pointing at it.

"If you insist, but you also need a shower" he shrugged as he removed his filthy shirt.

"Yeah, thanks to you" she mumbled and rolled her eyes.

"Well, we shouldn't waste water" he smirked.

Somehow, very easily, Jacob had convinced Rieka to shower with him. Not that it took much convincing. Afterwards they got dressed in some clean clothes and put their dirty clothes into the wash, Jacob had reminded her that he needed the clothes ready for tomorrow morning.

After eating their dinner, which was a lazy meal of pizza, that sat in the living room. "You're brother visited today" Rieka broke the silence.

"Which one?" Jacob almost growled. He didn't want Rieka alone with anyone else but his brothers worried him for a different reason. He trusted his brothers but he knew that John is rather popular with women and Joseph would want to make her join the Project at Eden's Gate.

"Joseph. He wanted to talk to me about you, he told me about your childhood" Rieka explained slightly, still confused about the encounter in all honesty.

"What did he tell you exactly?" the herald sighed as he looked at the woman.

"That you protected him and John from your parents" she smiled sweetly. He wanted to scoff at the idea of her seeing him as some sort of hero, he is just a soldier. A protector.

"After that we were sent to a foster homes. I wasn't a great kid, even set fire to my foster parent's farm and was sent to a juvenile detention centre" he laughed slightly at the memory.

"Joseph was talking about me 'dedicating' myself to you. What does that mean?" Rieka asked curiously and Jacob tried not to laugh. He debated killing his brother for a moment before speaking up.

"My brother believes that everything is the will of God, he believes that God brought you and I together. John was pretty determined to try and tease me about you when we went for dinner with them, that must have been why Joseph spoke to you about that. He thinks that it is God's will so he will want you to 'dedicate' yourself to me, but you already have. Just ignore him, alright?" Jacob looked down at her and she nodded, pulling her feet up onto the sofa and curling into his side.

Jacob wrapped his arm around her body and held her close, she never feels as safe as she does when she is with him.

"He also invited us to church on Sunday" Rieka told him quietly, making herself comfortable and nuzzling her face into his chest.

"Don't worry about it, we just have to stand through his sermon and then we can come back home" Jacob assured her. Something about him referring to the cabin and their 'home' made Rieka's stomach and chest flutter.

(IMPORTANT- Thank you so much for the support everyone! It means a lot! Does anyone have any ideas or things that they would like to see in the future chapters of the story? And I am taking suggestions for ideas for my future John Seed story!)