The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter CXXXII: Jacob's Point of View

The second that her warmth left me, I knew that Annie was no longer in my arms. She slid out carefully, probably hoping that she wouldn't wake me up. I let her think that, waiting until I could hear her in the kitchen to roll myself over to a more comfortable position and go back to sleep. Without her there, it was hard to sleep on my back.

The sweet aroma of coffee woke me up a few moments later, promising deliciousness and caffeine. I rolled over again and rubbed a hand over my face, taking care to shove the sleep out of the corners of my eyes. I finally managed to push myself upright and walked into the kitchen. Dad and Charlie were chatting away from their spots at the table. They were just like old women, I swear. "Morning," I greet gruffly. They grunted in response. "Where are the girls?" I swear on my life if Nessie ran off again, I wasn't coming after her. That whole experience was far too stressful for all of us involved.

"Rye took Nessie on a walk. She wanted to talk about some things," Charlie shrugged. Knowing Annie, she'd probably tell Ness not to do something so stupid again. "Of all the things that Bella has done to Ryanne, I think the fight Nessie showed me has got to be the worst," he commented, punctuating the declaration with a long draw from his mug.

"I think it was taking her on that hike where Laurent found them," Dad chirped. "She might have avoided all vampire trouble it it hadn't started there."

"No; it was Italy," I snarled. I was already trembling as the memories of all the things that had ever put in danger came flooding back to me. "It was when they let that one torture her." Charlie looked between me and my dad, who was nodding with a grim smile on his face.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked after he couldn't come to an understanding about what we had said.

"Annie said she told you," I said. I had just asked her a few days ago. She said she'd told her dad everything. "I knew Bella took her to Italy, but I didn't know that she was tortured," he said, his cheeks flushing with anger. "And what hike? She only told me Bella made her hike through the woods after I'd told them not to go. She never said that she'd met a vampire there."

So I told him everything. Everything everything. I explained all the things that Bella had done from the very beginning, all the things that I knew about after talking to Annie. I really thought it was important for Charlie to know exactly why Ryanne refused to trust her sister, why things had gotten as bad as they had. I ever told him about the seizure, the story there, that his other daughter had kissed me. And then I listened to him shouting at me, trying to argue with me, saying that Bella wouldn't have allowed those things to happen to her little sister.

I smelled Annie when she was still a little ways away from the house. I left Charlie to my father, hoping Dad would get the outraged man to calm down before he rounded on my girl. I wasn't trying to get her in trouble. I just needed her father to understand everything. Annie thought that she was protecting him, taking care of him, by not telling him the whole truth about everything. She gave him this kiddie version of the truth that wasn't doing anything for either of them. Her half-truths had left Charlie unable to fully grasp why he was forced to choose between his daughter and left Ryanne having to cover her own ass. It was better for everyone that Charlie knew the truth. "Nessie, go inside," I commanded from the porch when both of girls appeared. Nessie bit her lip and nodded, anxiety written in her eyes.

Annie didn't look at all concerned about this. She knew that something was going down, but I think all the shit that had happened to us in the last few weeks had made her numb to any shock that she should feel. "What's going on?" she asked, moving past me to the porch swing. She grabbed the blanket up and began folding it. "Nessie asked me to come back because she could hear shouting from the beach."