~*Edited to my liking*~
Friday January 13
"We're home!"
"Hey, Emma." Jacob says from the living room.
Anna, Joey, Michael, and Jamie are at their job. Anna and Michael work at Depot Diner that's in town. Jamie and Joey work in a retail store called Belk. I work at O'Reilly's and Jacob got a job at Game Stop. All four of our jobs are in Greenwood, South Carolina, which is one town over.
Sarah runs past me and throws her stuff on the dining table. She then heads out to the back door of the kitchen.
"Sarah. Where are you going?"
She stops at the doorway. "Outside."
"Why?"
"I'm going to play with JuJu."
I stop walking. "Sarah, you can't go outside."
"Why not?" She furrows her eyebrows.
"I don't want you to see JuJu anymore."
"But he's my friend." Her eyes begin to water.
"Sarah, I'm serious. I don't trust him and I don't want you near him."
"But--"
"No buts!! Now go do your homework."
Sarah is crying, but she does as she's told. She grabs her backpack and goes up to her room.
After hearing her door close, I feel my eyes water. I blink as much as I can to keep the tears from falling. Making Sarah cry is the most painful thing I've ever done.
"You had to do it." Jacob says behind me.
I turn around to look at him. "Then why do I feel so crappy right now?"
Jacob sighs and puts his hand on my shoulder.
"Part of being a mom is being tough on your kid even if it hurts."
My eyes get watery again. Jacob pulls me into a hug and I wrap my arms around his back.
"She'll understand when she's older." I nod.
I hold him tightly imprinting those words into my brain. Jacob was right. Sarah is too young to understand why I'm keeping her from Jason.
It's strange that Jacob is being so understanding. Usually when one of the girls cry, he rolls his eyes and leaves. But after finding Lizzie, Jacob has become more respectful. It may be weird, but it's a lot better than the way Michael has been acting.
I told the pack about Sarah and Jason. Since then Michael has become overprotective of me and Sarah. He's bought surveillance cameras and extra locks for the doors. Every night, he goes around to make sure every door and window is locked. I kept having to remind him that I'm the alpha and that I don't need a chaperone to go to work. I think him being a soon-to-be father is really getting him paranoid.
Jacob pulls away. "You hungry? Jamie said she's going to bring pizza."
"No. I'm not that hungry."
I run my hand through my hair. 'I"m just going to do my homework."
Jacob nods his head. I grab my bag and books and go up to my room. I throw everything on the bed and go back to close my door. Then I decide to check on Sarah.
"Sarah?" I knock on the door as I open it.
Sarah is at her desk. I hear her sniffling.
"Sarah." I walk inside and stop halfway.
She turns around. I see her red puffy eyes. Her cheeks have tears streaks running down. Seeing her like this makes me want to cry.
I offer her my hand. She gets off the chair and runs into my arms. I hold her as tightly as I can.
"I'm sorry Sarah. But I'm doing this to protect you."
"W-Why?" She hiccups.
I sigh. "It's too complicated to explain to you."
"But JuJu won't hurt me."
"I know you think that. But I don't want to risk losing you."
Sarah buries her head in the crook of my neck. "Okay."
I look at her face and wipe her tears. "I love you, Sarah."
"I love you, mommy."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After eating dinner, I pulled out the tray of brownies, from the barbecue, and gave one to Sarah. She's been quiet since I've forbidden her from seeing Jason. She still doesn't know who he is. Or what he is to us both.
"Mommy, can I go outside?"
"I don't--"
"I'll go with her." Jacob interjects.
"Me and Lizzie will play with you." Jacob holds Lizzie's hand.
"Can I mommy?"
Sarah looks up at me with hope in her eyes. They're begging me to say yes.
"Okay--"
She squeals as she jumps off the stool and runs to the back door.
"Emma, I don't think that's a good idea." Michael says.
Sarah stops and frowns at him.
"Jacob and Lizzie are coming."
"Michael it's fine." I look at Sarah. "Go ahead."
She smiles at me. "Come on Lizzie, let's go."
"What about me?" Jacob asks.
"You don't know how to have fun." Sarah teases as they walk outside.
I can hear Lizzie giggle.
"I do too." Jacob says in a childish tone.
Their voices fade as Michael closes the door. I see him looking at me sternly.
"Don't." I turn around to grab Sarah's dish off the dining table.
"He could be out there Emma."
"Jacob and Lizzie are with her." I pass him by as I walk to the kitchen.
I walk into the kitchen and begin washing dishes.
"He could take them down."
I stop what I'm doing and look back at him.
"Are you doubting Jacob's strength?"
"N-No. I--"
"Because we both know Jacob is one hell of a fighter. I train my pack to be strong."
"That's not what I'm saying Emma."
"Then what?"
Michael remains silent. I furrow my eyebrows.
"Are you suspicious of Lizzie?"
"We haven't known her that long."
"Michael. She is Jacob's mate. Lizzie would never betray him like that or us."
"Emma, I--"
"Doubting Lizzie is like me doubting Jamie."
Michael becomes angry.
"DON'T TALK ABOUT JAMIE!!"
My eyes start to change to ice-green.
"THEN DON'T DO IT TO LIZZIE!!!"
Michael goes quiet from my order. He hears the alpha in my tone.
"You remember your place in this pack Michael Anders. I am still your alpha."
Michael lowers his head in shame. "I'm sorry."
I don't respond. I do loosen my grip on the counter.
"You are going overboard with this protection. I know you want to keep this family safe, but you can't be putting surveillance cameras all over the house."
"Look as much as I don't want Jason near me or the family. I also have to consider the situation with Jackson."
"Porter?" Michael lifts his head. "What does he have to do with anything?"
"He lied to us about being a beta. He may have been right about Jason's past, but now I'm not sure if I can trust him."
"And then there was the day when he tried to kiss me." I shake my head. "He knew about me and Jason and yet he still came onto me."
Michael thinks back to that day.
"There's something off about him."
"I've noticed that too." Jacob interrupts as he walks into the kitchen.
Michael and I both snap our heads toward his direction.
"This past week, he's been watching me. And there's times when he'd ask questions about you and Sarah. Mostly about you."
"What?" I furrow my eyebrows.
"I didn't think much of it at first, but then today . . . ." He trails off.
"What about today?" I lean onto the counter.
"Some guy came up to him. They were talking and kept looking at me. I tried to listen in on their conversation, but then the guy left almost immediately."
I look at Michael. He's just as confused as I am.
"Doesn't that make him more suspicious now?"
Michael nods his head. The three of us lean onto the counter and take in all this information.
"Something's not right. I can feel it."
"Do you want me to spy on him?" Jacob asks.
I stand back up and go to the sink. "No."
"I don't want him to get suspicious of us." I look at Jacob. "Just stay alert around him."
I turn to Michael. "Make sure you tell the others."
Jacob and Michael take my orders. Jacob goes to the back door, but stops.
"Oh. One more thing."
He walks up to Michael and punches him in the jaw. You should know that Jacob has one hell of a right hook.
"What the hell?!" Michael yells.
"That's for Lizzie!"
Michael freezes. I guess Jacob heard his accusations. Michael looks over at me.
"What? You're lucky I didn't do that to you either."
I throw a wink at Jacob.
The bond between mates is unquestionable. A werewolf would never try to betray his or her mate. It's like breaking your own heart.
Michael leaves and goes to his room. Jacob goes back outside with the girls. I continue washing the dishes when I hear his voice.
Emma.
I stop.
Emma, I need to talk to you.
No.
Emma, I heard everything.
I look out the window.
In a not to far distance, I see Jason's eyes floating in the dark. He was there the entire time, listening to the discussion I had with Michael and Jacob. I would've thought he'd go after Jackson after hearing about what he did.
Don't you know it's rude to listen in on other people's conversations?
Don't start Emma. You're lucky I'm still here and not going after that son of a b**** Jackson.
I can see Jason's eyes change colors as he says Jackson's name.
And you think right now is a good time to talk? I don't know if you've noticed, but Michael isn't very fond of you at the moment.
I can tell by all the cameras.
I laugh. Yeah. All thanks to you.
Sorry.
I rub my temple. Look I can't do this right now. Wait til 12 and I'll meet you outside.
What about the cameras?
Don't worry about that.
Okay . . . .
I finish drying the dishes and putting them in the cabinet.
Emma?
I sigh. Yeah?
Never mind. I'll wait for you here.
Kay.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When 12 a.m. hit, I snuck out of my room and down to the laundry room. I felt like I was back in L.A. again. The times when me and the pack would sneak out to go to the clubs. Well the girls would, me and the boys would go to those special movie premieres and rock concerts. All that stopped when my parents passed away.
I reach the laundry room. I get to the cabinet and find the system to the surveillance behind the cleaners. Lucky for me, Michael had to tell me where it was. Me being alpha and all.
I shut off the main switch. As I go out the back door of the kitchen. I check the cameras to make sure they're off.
They are.
With that, I run into the forest. I keep going until I get to the stream that splits the forest. I look ahead to the other half and see him come out of hiding.
"You made it."