Heart in Your Hands

Chapter 12

Bella and I were cleaning Big Red, as I had begun calling it, when Zeke jumped on the roof then on the trucks bed. Both Bella and I jumped from the loud and unexpected sound, he laughed and wrapped his arms around Bella. Sending her a wiggle with my brows she throws her rag at me then goes back to staring at her vamp boy. "I'm taking you to my place tomorrow." He looks down at the dent that had been on the truck since the crash and sticks his hand under and pulls it out, fixing the dent like it was the easiest thing in the world. "You as well, Lilah." I give him a nod and go back to cleaning not wanting to listen to their lovey-dovey interaction.

Zeke didn't stay long, he left quickly in his car, which I hadn't noticed was parked by our house. As we watched him leave, Billy and Jacob drove in and parked in our driveway. Their big truck took more than half the space of the front of our house making me wish I had a ride like that.

Jacob quickly got out of the passenger side and ran to the back of their truck to take down the wheelchair for his dad. I forced Bella to link our arms together and we walked towards them. "Came to visit your truck?" I joked to Jacob who seemed to be avoiding me. His eyes were looking anywhere but me. But they seemed to be stuck on Bella. Not thinking much of it, I pushed aside any worry and let the get past us.

Billy chuckled, now sitting comfortably on his leather seat with wheels, holding a six pack of 19oz beer. "Actually, we came to visit your flat screen. First Mariners game of the season." Taking a quick look at his son, Billy grinned and begun to tease him, "Plus Jacob here keeps bugging me about seeing you again." Rolling his eyes at his dad, Jake shook his head with a shy smile. Unlike Jacob, Billy looked at me with a nod. "Just keeping it real, son."

Dad walked over and took the handles from Billy's wheelchair and rolled him to the house. "Vitamin R."

Lifting a brown paper-bag, Billy grinned triumphantly, "Harry Clearwater's homemade fish fry." He handed it to Jake and tightened his grip on the cold, alcoholic drinks. The smile on his face faded and turned serious. "Hey, any luck on that Waylon case?"

"Well, I don't think it was an animal that killed him." I winced, my head hurting just thinking about it. I bit down on my lip to stop me from calling the poor dead man Butt Crack Santa again.

Shrugging carelessly, Billy winked at him knowingly. "Never thought it was."

Bella walked ahead of us, and I bumped my shoulder with Jacob's, playfully. He barely looked at me then gave me a tight-lipped smile. It hurt my feelings, and I had no idea if I had done something to upset him. Letting it go, not wanting to say anything, I walked into the house after Bella and kept quiet the rest of the day. I kept my distance and calculated everything before speaking, not sure what would set Jake off. It was tiring having to watch what I say, and not be comfortable in my own home.