Hopeless Devotion ~ A Jasper Hale Story

Chapter 24 - Figuring out the Real Enemy

Dad looked serious when Bella told him Jake was running with Sam Uley's gang. He didn't blow up or anything—that wasn't his style—but I saw it. The twitch in his jaw. The way his eyes narrowed just a hair too much. That was Sheriff Swan for you. He didn't say a lot, but you could read the man like a crime scene if you paid attention.

To him, this wasn't folklore or legends—it was trouble. Kids falling in with the wrong crowd. No curfews. No supervision. Bad attitudes and worse timing. Dad didn't have the first clue what was actually going on, but he felt it—like a cop sniffing out a case before it broke wide open.

And it gnawed at him.

Later, when he cornered Billy about Jake, it was like watching two storm clouds circle each other. Charlie wanted answers. Billy had a vault full of them and wasn't giving up the combination. I stood back, quiet, while they danced around the truth like it was radioactive. Billy didn't want a panic, and Charlie didn't want bodies showing up in the woods. Neither of them got what they wanted.

That night, I heard Jake's voice low and rough through Bella's door. He'd come in through her window—again, like a lovesick ninja. He sounded... tired. Not just physically, but in that soul-deep, something's breaking inside me way I knew too well.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I want to tell you everything—I do. But I can't yet. Remember those stories I told you? The ones I laughed about?"

He didn't laugh now.

I was standing just down the hall, pretending not to listen. My stomach twisted. I hated this. Hated how Bella kept balancing herself on the edge of things she didn't understand, trying to pull Jake along with her. She had no idea how close everything was to unraveling.

Charlie was blind to all of it. Wolves. Vampires. Fate breathing down our necks like a storm rolling in off the cliffs.

Once Jake climbed back out of the window—quiet as he came—I gave it a beat. Then I slipped into Bella's room.

She was sitting there like a statue, staring out the same window. Her expression was glassy and full of sharp edges. Like if I said the wrong thing, she'd break.

I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms. "So... cryptic boys crawling through windows again. Must be Thursday."

Bella didn't look at me. "He's scared."

I nodded. "Yeah. So am I."

She glanced over, surprised. Maybe she expected me to yell. Maybe I wanted to. But instead, I just sat next to her and let the silence stretch.

"He told me those stories for a reason," she whispered. "I just didn't listen."

"No," I said. "You didn't want to believe it. And now you're in it. Welcome to the deep end."

Bella looked away, her shoulders tense. "Charlie doesn't understand."

"He doesn't need to," I said quietly. "But we do. Because this? This doesn't go away."

And we both knew—I wasn't just talking about Jake anymore.We'd barely gotten a glimpse of Jake—passed out in that closet of a room he called a bedroom—before Billy caught us lurking like creeps and we had to beat it. We left a note, told Billy to have Jake meet us at the beach when he woke up. I didn't expect much. Honestly, after the way Bella treated him last time, I wouldn't have blamed Jake if he ghosted us both.

But he showed.

Tired eyes, mussed hair, and the same emotionally constipated expression I was starting to associate with everyone in this damn town. And still, Bella had the nerve to go off on him.