The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter CX

I remembered being at Sam and Emily's. I remembered Jake taking me home and laying down in bed with me. I remembered him telling me that he loved me. So I couldn't figure out for the life of me why Jake wasn't lying next to me in bed. "Jake?" I called out. If he was anywhere near the house, then he would hear me. But he didn't come into the room. The door was open, as it was usually was. But I couldn't hear him in the house anywhere. Billy was snoring in his room, letting me know that someone else was here with me. "Jake?"

I pushed myself up off the bed. The window rattled behind me, sending me jumping. For a brief moment I thought that it was some vampire coming to get me. I turned to find the branch of a tree tapping against the glass. "Get yourself together, Ryanne," I muttered, pulling my yoga pants down my legs to try to stop sweating. I had nothing to be afraid of. Jake would't let anything get me. The Volturi couldn't get through him... right?

My stomach burned and churned as my anxiety climbed. I leaned forward and placed my head between my knees and took a few deep breaths. But the bile only burned the back of my throat. I slowly jumped to my feet, trying to make my stomach stop boiling. I tied my hair in a bun as I made my way to the bathroom. I crouched down and let everything burn my throat as it came up. I shouldn't be nervous, I shouldn't be worried. But for the second time in my life I had a group of vampires after me.

The thoughts running through my brain had a new wave of vomit from my mouth. I pulled the lever on the toilet down, listening to the flushing sound and resting my head against the cold porcelain. "Annie?" The anxiety eating at my heart started to ebb away at the sound of his voice. The door opened slowly, like he was worried about what he might see. I couldn't even bring myself to open my eyes and look at him. "Annie girl?" He crouched down in front of me, a warm hand against my forehead doing nothing to cool me off.

"What's wrong baby girl? You want me to take you over to Sue's?" I wanted to tell him that he didn't need to worry, that I had just let the anxiety get the best of me. All I could manage to do was shake my head.

Peering through my eyes, I could see that Jake wasn't happy with my nonverbal response. There was a part of me that wanted to tell him to go ask Paul how he feels everyday with Charlie. "I feel better now. It's the imprint bond, that's all." Having him near me made me feel a lot better. Jake apologized about leaving me, but I was too tired to tell him to knock his shit off. I tried to explain what had happened, to ask him where he'd gone, but the words probably came out like garbled mush. I could feel him around me as he carried me back to the bedroom, his warm arms underneath me.

I would have sworn that it was only a moment before I was waking up again, but the sun shining through the window told me that it had been far long. I was facing the rest of the room, Jake holding me close to his chest. He wasn't snoring, but grumbling about the Cullens and the Volturi under his breath. "Jake," I whispered, anxious to talk to him about the night before. He started awake, his eyes flying open. "It's just me. Sorry," I whispered.

His hand wrapped around my entire waist until it was underneath my stomach. He flipped me around, sending me into vertigo until the world was righted and Jake's chest was facing me. "You don't even need to be sorry," he whispered. "You have nothing to be sorry about." It wouldn't surprise me that Jake wanted to take all the blame on himself.

"I get to apologize sometimes too, Jake," I whispered, still feeling the vomit in my mouth. "Where did you go last night, Jake?" I added, remembering why I had the taste of throw up in my mouth.

He sighed heavily. "I went to talk to the Cullens about the Volturi." I shuddered a little at the name. There was something about hearing the name from Jake that made the threat much more real. The fact that he felt like he needed to talk to the vampires about this wasn't helping my nerves. I closed my eyes, listening to his breathing. "Hey, hey, don't do that, Annie. Don't shut me out. You don't need to be scared."

"Kind of hard not to be," I whispered.

"I know, baby girl. I know that you're afraid. So let's do what we always do; let's talk about this and make a plan. It's got us through everything before," he whispered. "Open your eyes, Annie." I did as he asked and found his face closer to mine than I had thought. "I went to talk to the Cullens about the Italians. I don't know if we're going to work with them; there were a lot of things that Leah was right about with the Cullens. But the truth is that I need them if I'm going to know what's going on. I have to be able to protect you."

"So you're not working with the Cullens?"

"I don't know; I don't want to after last night. I met your, uh, ex-sister," he replied. My eyes widened as I stared at him, my breathing stopping. "Yeah, I met her and the demon spawn. They almost got themselves killed yesterday," he snarled. "She actually told the kid that I would like them and that I had always been her friend and that I would be."

"Bella always sees what she wants in people," I whispered. It was true, my sister didn't see the craziness that she had created. Bella could never lie which meant that, unfortunately, she believed all the shit that she told people. "She sees you as the guy that was there for her when things were bad."

"Yeah, but that's never who I was for you. I was that for you, always for you. I thought that I wanted to be that for Bella but it wasn't what she wanted. Annie girl, we've talked about it before. You said that Bella made her choice and you were right. She wanted Edward and now she has him. I don't want anything to do with her or them or their spawn. She's not even normal."

I frowned. "Who's not normal?"

"Their little creep... They call it their daughter. Named her Renee-Sme or something like that. Bella actually told her that I would love her. Could you sister lie through her teeth a little more?"

"I don't think that Bella actually means to lie, Jake. I think that she actually believes the things that she say."

"Oh, so she's delusional?" he replied. I rolled my eyes and laughed. "That's the only way that your sister could possibly believe the things that she tells people. I mean, really," he began ranting, repeating himself more than anything else. I just sat there and listened to him until he was finished talking.

"Are you done?" I asked with a little laugh.

"Yes; I'm finished, Ryanne. But we still have to figure out what we're going to do about -"

A howl broke through the air. Jake sat upright, covering me with his arms to keep me from getting hurt. Another short one followed right behind it. "I have to get going, Annie. They came across a trail. We'll talk a little bit later, okay?"

"Jake, you're not really thinking about working with the Cullens are you?" I asked. I didn't like it. It hadn't worked out in our favor last time. I mean, most of us had survived unscathed but it was Jake that had paid the biggest price. He had almost died. I wasn't willing to let that happen to him again, to watch him get hurt again. It had almost torn me apart watching him heal and hearing the screams that had erupted from his chest earlier.

Jake leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "I'll be right back. You stay here and stay safe, okay? Dad said that he was going to Sue's today, something about Nate taking him fishing." I fought the urge to smile. Nate was such a good match for Leah. "You stay in this house, Ryanne. I mean it."

"Hey, I don't leave just because I feel like it!" I countered. Every other time that I'd left, I'd had a good reason.

"Ryanne, I'm being serious. I will lock you in this room if I need to," he threatened. "Or should I just take you over to Emily now?"

"I'm not going anywhere." Another long howl sounded.

"I've got to go, Annie."

"Go, go." Another pain filled howl sounded. Great, someone was hurt. "Come back soon, okay?" He nodded and took off, leaving me fearful of what was going on. "Please, God, keep my friends safe."