Innocence~Seth Clearwater

Chapter 7

Paul recognized that it was Jaiden too late and he was already in the air with his claws extended and ready to rip through her skin when Seth plowed his head into Paul's side shoving him into Jaiden's car and shattering the windshield. Seth growled fiercely at Paul while Emily ran over to the girl on the ground who was still shrieking and quickly ushered her inside away from the wolves. Seth was still growling while Paul whimpered before running into the woods followed by Seth as they went to change so they could check on the girl they surely traumatized.

Inside Emily was wrapping moving Jaiden into the shower despite the fact that she was still fully clothed. Jaiden sat on the floor of the shower and hugged her knees to her chest as Emily turned on the water to try and help with her anxiety. Jacob shoved his way into the bathroom to comfort his sister and his heart broke when she looked up at him and he could see the fear in his eyes. Emily decided to leave them alone and forced all of the other boys outside to give Jaiden the space she clearly needed. 

"What the hell just happened?" She demanded with her hands on her hips as she glared at all of the guilty-looking boys. Paul looked the most guilty he couldn't manage to wrap his head around the fact that he almost just killed his best and only friend. Obviously, he was friends with the other wolves but the fact remained Jaiden was the only person who had ever willingly been his friend. Everyone else was only friends with him because they all shared the same genetic trait.

Emily glared at the group of boys and they all stared at Paul waiting for him to answer until Sam took a step forward.

"We were running the patrol and we could all smell a vampire here, Paul was the closest and I told him to protect you no matter what. He couldn't see Jaiden through the bushes and didn't realize that she was the one that smelt like a vampire until it was too late. Thankfully Seth noticed and stopped him," Sam explained while Emily's face fell as she realized the whole thing was an accident and not just the boys fighting as she had thought. 

"I'm sure she'll be fine she just needs some time to process it," Jacob said while walking outside after wrapping his sister in a blanket and allowing her to fall asleep peacefully on the couch. "She doesn't know who attacked her and she doesn't want to know," he added to Paul who looked up at him sadly.

"Why doesn't she want to know?" Paul asked curiously while picking at his thumb.

"Apparently she spent the day with the blonde Cullen and she knows it was an accident," Jacob said while running a hand through his hair. Inside Jaiden sat up on the couch after pretending to fall asleep she glanced out the window and saw everyone outside talking to her but as if he could sense her Seth turned to look at her and she motioned for him to come inside. 

"Excuse me," He said while shuffling past Jacob and into the house, everyone looked back at the window to see Jaiden walking back towards the couch with her blanket still wrapped around her.

"Hey," He said while sitting on the floor in front of her.

"Can we leave?" She asked him while staring at the floor.

"Yeah let's go," He said holding his hand out to her. She gratefully took his hand while standing up and dropping the blanket. She kept her head down staring at the ground while Seth led her outside, he realized they weren't going to be able to take her totaled car so her guided her down the driveway to walk her home. Neither of them missed the fact that they were being stared at as they left but Jaiden refused to acknowledge them while Seth turned around and shrugged at them. 

"Are they still staring," Jaiden whispered as they turned to walk down the road? She still hadn't lifted her head but she could still see Seth through her hair. He nodded his head and she sighed. He ended up lifting her up and running inhumanly fast to get her home quicker. 

"We're here JJ," Seth spoke softly while gently shaking the girl. 

"Dad's not here, can you stay with me?" She asked while keeping her face buried in his chest. He nodded even though she couldn't see it.

"Of course, I will," He spoke out loud after realizing she couldn't see his nod. He went to gently set her feet on the ground and that was when he realized she had been wearing a very short dress. His right hand was placed on her back over the dress but his left hand was holding onto her bare upper thigh. He quickly became embarrassed and set her on the ground securely before letting go of her entirely. Jaiden didn't seem to notice his embarrassment or the fact he had been holding onto her thigh so tightly. 

Seth wasn't embarrassed by the skin-on-skin contact but he was embarrassed by the thoughts he had. Never in his life had he thought about grabbing a girl and kissing her so passionately, but now that was all he wanted to do. He knew he couldn't though, she was still shaken from nearly being attacked she would definitely break his nose if he even tried kissing her.

"Do you want something to eat," She asked him as she grabbed a bag of Doritos for herself. 

"Do you have any soda?" Seth asked as he awkwardly stood in the kitchen. She nodded at him and grabbed two cokes out of the fridge before handing him one and taking his hand to lead him towards her bedroom. 

"So," She said before trailing off while Seth eagerly watched waiting for what to say. "Jacob refused to tell me who it was," she said while his face switched to confusion.

"He said that you didn't want to know," Seth said while resisting the urge to tuck her hair behind her ear. 

"No, he refused to tell me and told me not to ask you," She stated and Seth did not miss the annoyance that laced her words. "Who hates me," She asked in a quieter tone.

"Nobody hates you JJ," Seth said softly while setting his hand on hers. "If Jacob didn't want you to know I'm sure he has his reasons," He added causing Jaiden to scoff loudly.

"Of course, you would jump to his aid. You'll never do anything that might make him unhappy will you?" Jaiden asked while getting off the bed and standing with her back to him as she ran a hand through her long messy curls.

"It's not like that," Seth immediately said while standing up to approach her. 

"Of course it is and it always will be. It's always been Jacob this and Jacob that. I think it's time for you to leave," She said the anger was radiating off of her while Seth who was now also angry turned and left her room quickly.

Why couldn't she understand he just wanted to keep her safe, and if Jacob thought she would be safe not knowing who was he to argue with.

Why couldn't he understand she was scared, so scared in fact that she decided she was not speaking to the wolves anymore. She didn't feel safe around them.