Jake

Chapter 22 - Redemption

I had done it. I had gotten rid of Hudson in my own head. I silently smiled to myself and sat up against the arm of the sofa.

I tried to calm my breathing, I tried to hide what had just happened the moment Jake walked into the room, his posture sluggish as he walked towards me and sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of me without making any eye contact.

I held my breath, attempting to slow it down so he didn't notice, but it was proving to be futile.

Jake's eyes then lifted towards me, a certain sorrow involved before they turned curious.

"What's wrong?" Was his first sentence, his tone telling me I was indeed busted as I let my breathing out, only realizing it had made it worse.

"Nothing" I smiled attempting to hide it despite the track record of how good a liar I was.

"Tell me Haven, please" He begged as his eyes returned to a soft gaze, pinning me down.

"The ring doesn't work anymore" I mumbled as I toyed with the silver around my finger

"What happened?"

"Hudson got inside my head again" I truthfully admitted

Jake sighed and closed his eyes, almost defeated like he had been expecting it

"I should have done something earlier, I knew this would happen..." He trailed off, mumbling to himself as his eyebrows crossed.

"I pushed him out" I proudly told him, surprised at his sudden turnaround in attitude.

Maybe what I had said, had worked, maybe he now realized how much of an idiot he was being, I crossed my fingers.

"What do you mean?" Jake asked, his eyes darting back up to meet mine

"I just concentrated on getting him out, I closed my eyes and things got blurry, his voice started to fade and then it was gone, all of it" I shrugged still amazed I'd managed it.

"What did he say to you?" Jake questioned, his gaze intent on mine

"He was mad at me for not recognizing his voice, he was threatening me, said he was out for my blood..." I trailed off, still in shock over his callous words "He said he could see me, but I couldn't see him and that's right how he wanted it to be" I added, remembering the information.

Jake narrowed his eyes on me, concentrating on the words as he gave no sign of snapping anger.

"How are you feeling?" He instantly changed the subject as his eyes returned to me, soft and even.

"I'm fine" I slowly spoke, confused.

"Look..." He sighed as he moved his eyes away from mine "I'm sorry about how I've been treating you, treating everyone, I've just, I've allowed my common sense to take a back seat while I obsess over keeping you safe, keeping all of this craziness away from you as much as possible" He slowly confessed as if it were the hardest words he'd ever spoken.

"The craziness isn't going anywhere anytime soon, I'm in this now whether you like it or not" I told him, taking the chance to tell him exactly how I felt as I sat up.

"The things you said to me earlier, you have no idea how that affected me" He continued to disclose as he averted his gaze.

"Jake, I realize you care about me to some extent, and what everyone tells me about how you feel about me, it's hard to... it's hard to acknowledge with the way you are, I'm fighting my own emotions and the way you act, makes it ten times harder for me to find out how I really feel" I decided to confess in return.