Autumn's Concerto

Autumn's Concerto 6

"I'll kill him."

I sighed. "Jake, I don't want you to kill him."

"Who said anything about what you want?" He snarled. "I'll do it because I want to."

"Jake, it's wrong and you know it. Besides, I really don't want you to," I dipped my head to find his eyes he was hiding by looking down, "and you don't want to do anything I don't want to, do you?"

His black eyes held mine and then he sighed too. "No, I don't. But what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find a job somewhere else." I said, stirring my water with my straw.

"Isn't that running away?" I shot him a look and he spread his hands. "Just saying." He put a fry in his mouth and I sipped my water miserably. "Are you going to tell Sue?"

I winced. "I don't want to, but I guess I'll have to when I tell her I'm quitting the school and getting another job."

"Why don't you come down to the reservation? I'm sure my dad could find you work."

"Thank you but no. I don't want to bother anyone down there and besides, the busses don't run that way."

"I'd come get you." He offered, stuffing another fry in his mouth.

I smiled. "Again, thanks, but you still have to go to school." My smile disappeared and my eyes narrowed. "Why are you not at school?"

He shrugged. "After that scene, I wasn't going to let you go off by yourself and mope." He leaned over the table then and made sure I was looking at him. "Listen to me. I'll do whatever it takes to protect you, Bella. I don't want to see you get hurt like this again. Please, let me help." His eyes were a sweet dark brown and so honest and I believed him. Jacob and I had always been close. I couldn't remember a time when I didn't have him to talk to.

But, he hardly ever got his way with me. "I can't, Jake. I wouldn't feel right about it."

His shoulders dropped and he asked, almost defeated, "But you'll come to me if you can't find a job, right?"

I nodded. "Of course, Jake." He settled back and stared at his fries as if it were all their fault. "Now who's moping?" I teased.

"I was only kidding." He said lowly.

"I know." Why was he acting like this?

Then suddenly, his head came up and he grinned. "Do you want to come over? I've fixed the motorcycle. You want to see?"

Jacob had found a motocycle at the dump and had been all excited over fixing it for months. I never had any idea what he was talking about when he talked about the bike but I could appreciate the hard work I had watched him put into it on many occasions. So I was genuinely happy to hear it and agreed. "Yeah! But let's make a day of it this weekend. I want a lot of time to see appreciate it from a professional view." He cracked a grin then.

"You don't even know what a spoke is."

I ignored his comment and went on as if he hadn't said anything. "And I'd rather spend a day with you than at my house."

"You want to stay the night? You can use the old guest room. Dad wouldn't mind."

"I don't think Peter would let me."

"Why not? You're old enough to make your own decisions. Besides, we've spent the night at each others houses for years."

"I know that. But Peter has this ... weird thing about me being with guys in general."