The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter CXVII

"Hey, so do you have a death wish?" Jake asked me after he had literally thrown me down on the couch. I rubbed the back of my thigh and looked over at him. "You just can't help but find ways to make the vampires angry, huh?"

I grabbed an apple from the bowl in the living room and bit it. "It"s a talent," a said with a mouthful of apple.

"You think this is a joke? I'm being serious here, Ryanne. Bella can kill you without even trying," he countered.

"Well, at least she's not trying to kill me anymore. That'll be a good change," I replied, biting my apple again.

"Annie," he growled low with warning. "Will you please listen to me? I care about you and I'm only trying to protect you. The sarcasm isn't helping us right now."

"Jake, I don't know what you want from me. One minute you're telling me to speak my mind and tell you what I feel. I try hard to do what you tell me to." Jake snorted in disbelief. "Oh stop it. I really do try to do the things that you tell me to. But you make it difficult when I do the things that you want me to and then you yell at me."

"I'm not yelling at you," he bellowed.

"Sue called and begged to differ," I said, resting my head against the back of the couch. "Jake, I don't know what you want from me. Do you want me to be angry and insult people all day? Or do you want me to tell people what I'm really thinking?"

"Both. I don't want you to put your life in danger. And when you do shit like yell at your sister -"

"I didn't yell at her, Jake. You know that I didn't. Bella's not worth my anger," I interrupted.

Jake growled and settled down on the couch next to me. "What did the monster have to say to you?" he asked after a few moments of silence. "And why were you letting her touch you?"

"Renesmee doesn't deserve my anger. Bella isn't worth the time it takes for me to hate her, but Renesmee doesn't deserve it. She didn't ask Bella to fall in love with Edward and Edward to make the mistake of trying to get with Bela before she was a vampire. She didn't ask to be born and I'm not going to be the one that sits here and tells her that it's her fault," I said. "She has a power, kind of like Edward's. Instead of me showing her my thoughts, she shows me hers by touching me. She was just showing me her family and the things that Bella had said about us. That's all."

"What did Bella have to say?"

"She was just showing the kid parts of her family and introducing her," I said. "And then she was saying something about you and how she wanted you and Renesmee to be better friends than you and I are," I said. Jake snorted. "I think that there's a part of my sister that hopes that you would have fallen in love with her."

"Yeah right. Could you imagine anyone falling in love with the little hybrid?" He snorted with amusement. "Scared the shit out of me when I thought that Seth had imprinted. I mean, of everyone to imprint, Seth would be the best candidate. He needs someone soon."

"You should stop encouraging the guys to imprint. You're killing me," I groaned.

"Killing you?"

"Oh yeah; every time that they imprint I get stuck with the wolves who are wondering how they should act and the girls wondering how they should react. So if we could hold off on imprinting until I get a handle on Embry and Penn, I would appreciate that." Jake laughed freely for the first time since we had left for the Cullen house earlier that day.

He had reclined himself in the corner of the couch, his abs gleaming gloriously under the lights of the house. "You've been kind of tense today," I said, putting the apple core down on a paper plate on the coffee table and scooted closer to him. "And while angry Jake is sexy in his own regard, my favorite side of the puzzle that is Jake is happy Jake."