The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter XCVII

The jury was gone for a while, which I took to be a bad sign. Maybe the lawyer had been too believable. God I hoped not. We needed this to be over and that man had to go to jail for what he did. I rested my head against Jake's shoulder, sitting in the lobby waiting. His thumb drew lazy circles on the back of my hand while my mind raced to figure out what could be taking so long.

"You're doing it again," Jake informed me, his hand tightening around mine.

"Doing what?" I asked him, looking up startled. I hadn't started crying had I? I swiped underneath my eyes to check, but there was no moisture.

"You're thinking and not telling me what's bothering you," he said simply. Dad and Billy were sitting a little ways away from us, far enough that they couldn't hear but close enough that Dad could keep an eye on us. Jake lifted his head from its spot on the crown on mine and turned my face to his.

"What are you thinking about?"

"What if they find him not guilty, Jake? What if all of us went through this, put ourselves through hell, and he gets off?" Jake sighed.

"You worry too much," he said quietly. I just stared up at him. "Fine, you want to know what then? There is a pack of wolves that are just itching to keep their own safe. And unfortunately, that beast messed with one of their own."

"I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to threaten people in a courthouse, Jake," I whispered to him. The smile that I had been dying to see all day finally made an appearance. I grinned back at him, glad to see him smiling once more.

"Thank you for being here, Jake. I know that it wasn't easy to sit and listen to all that."

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to my feet and tight against his chest. "It wasn't any harder to listen to it than it was for you to tell it, Ryanne. Stop worrying about me," he commanded. I just rolled my eyes.

"Hey, I'm serious, Rye. Listening to it hurts, yeah. But seeing the look on your face, on all of your faces, when you were telling it, that's even worse. So just for once in your life be a little bit selfish and don't think about how I felt. Think about what this made you feel." I smiled at him a little bit, He thought I wasn't selfish. I had brought him here with me because I didn't think that I could do it on my own. I had taken him to a meeting with girls that had been through hell because I didn't think I could do it without him with me. I was selfish all the time. And I relied on Jake just a little too much. He leaned down and kissed my temple.

"Everything will work out; one way or another."

"You are not allowed to get arrested, Jake," I chided. He smiled at me, both of us feeling a little lighter than we had the entire week. I felt a cold tap on my shoulder and spun around. In my head, the worst scenarios were forming. I could imagine that it was Murphy; that he had done what I'd been so afraid of and he was going to take me away from everything that I held dear. But it was just Hailey. She bit her lip and looked down at the ground.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked in her shy little voice. I nodded and stepped out of Jake's arms, albeit a little reluctantly.

"We'll just be right over there," she said to Jake. He smiled and nodded, taking his place next to our dads. "I didn't mean to interrupt or anything."

"Don't worry about it; Jake and I get plenty of time together," I said with a shrug. "What's on your mind, Hailey?"

"How do you do this?" I quirked an eyebrow. "How do you have a relationship again? Because I can't do. I can't be alone with anyone without wondering what is going to happen to me. Especially if it's a guy; I try to and then we're alone and it's like adrenaline kicks in." I could see her working herself up. I did the only thing I knew how to do. I bumped her arm and watched her collapse against my shoulder, her arms hanging limply by her side.