The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter LVII

"What are you talking about?" he asked, still staring at me like I had spoken German. "What's coming after you?"

"The vampire that took my things," I said, staring blankly at the wall.

"What are you talking about, Annie?" he growled.

"The leech took my blanket that I slept with and the workout clothes that I used. Everything would've smelled more like me than anything else I owned. Why else would they need my scent Jake?"

"They?"

"Okay, it. Why else would it need my scent? It has to be tracking me, Jake. That's the only explanation," I said as I looked up at him. "They took things that smelled the most like me."

"I heard you!" he snarled.

"Then why aren't you saying anything?" He glared at me, his arms shaking almost uncontrollably.

"Go run," I said, patting his shoulder.

"No," he growled.

"Jake, you're only going to end up hurting me if you stay." A drop of sweat rolled onto his lashes as he fought for control of himself.

"Go run, even if it's just in the forest right around the house, Jake. You don't want to hurt anyone."

He booked it out the door like someone had lit his ass on fire. He ducked out the door, leaving me sitting on the blanket staring out the door. It was the only thing that made sense. Whatever vampire that had been in my room had taken my things and Bella's.

Bella had a reputation for pissing off vampires. It must've been after her and... I wasn't sure if it was after me because I was the sister or if it had gotten confused. But I guess it didn't really matter. No matter what the reasoning was, this monster was after me.

I stood in front of the sink, mindlessly washing the dishes as my brain thought about all the things that could go wrong. What if one of the guys was hurt? What if this thing hurt my father? There were so many things that could go wrong and this time, I couldn't save anyone.

"You okay?" Jake startled me. I dropped the plate that I had been holding and stared at him with unseeing eyes.

"I don't think so," I admitted. "I'm scared, Jake."

"I won't let it get you," he said, hands clamped over my shoulders as he turned me to look at him. "I won't let it hurt you."

"I'm not worried about me," I whispered. "I'm worried about everyone else. What if it hurts you or the guys or Leah or Kim or Nate or my dad?"

"It won't."

"How do you know?" I shouted. "We keep saying that it won't hurt us, that everything will be fine, but clearly it's not. Because I am constantly attacked. I am always in fear of losing my friends and family. Nothing about my life is the same anymore. And I can't do it right now, Jake. I can't pretend that I'm okay right now."

He took my face in his hands. "Look at me," he implored. I did, swallowing my tears as I stared at him. "You don't have to pretend that you're okay, Annie. No one expects you to just be okay with the way that things are. We get it; it's not easy. I don't want you to feel like you can't tell me something. I don't want you to feel like you have to hide it. I know that it's hard. I know that I keep saying that everything will be okay and it's not really getting any better, but there's only so much that we can do with the leeches back in town." I nodded, not hearing what I wanted to.

"I'm going to talk to my dad about getting Charlie down here as much as possible so that we can keep him safe, okay?" I nodded, knowing that Dad would go for it and I would have him a little safer.