FOUR; CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
"You think I was too harsh on him?"
Emily Young looked over from where she was mixing her cookie batter, Haven had posed a question to her that was rather out of the blue. The two had been baking together, Haven was the one to suggest activity as before they were simply sitting in Emily and Sam's living room watching crime drama reruns. "What do you mean?"
Haven didn't want to roll her eyes at Emily, she was one of the nicest people she had ever met but her fake ignorance didn't fool the huntress. "You know what I'm talking about. I presume Sam told you about what happened at the wedding, it's probably the hottest gossip between the wolves right now."
Emily continued to mix her batter, adding a few extra chocolate chips as she did so. "Actually no one is really talking about it, Sam only told me because he tells me everything. I think most of them are trying to avoid speaking of it for Jake's sake. He's pretty moody."
"He's okay though, right?" Haven couldn't help herself. Even when she was furious at Jacob her first instinct was to make sure that he was still alright.
Emily shrugged. "He will be, don't regret anything you said, Haven. I don't think you were too harsh on him, he needed to hear it and it would have been worse if you held all those feelings in. Jake might be quite miserable right now but that doesn't mean you have to worry."
"I'm always going to worry," Haven moved to grab a spoon from the drawer and started to scoop Emily's batter onto the baking sheet laid out prior.
"I know the feeling," Emily commented. The both of them always bonded over that fact – that they knew exactly what the other had to go through because of the imprint. It was refreshing to Haven to speak to someone who entirely got it and didn't just sympathize with her situation. Plus Emily made killer cookies.
Haven kept spooning the mixture but her attention was on anything but baking. She wanted to ask more about how Jacob was doing – it had been about a week since the wedding and their fight, which was one sided as Haven yelled at him more than she ever wanted to. Bella and Edward had been gone on their honeymoon for that long as well and Haven realized that without those two and Jacob, she feeling rather lonely which promoted her to hang out at Emily's.
The thing with a group of teenage boys is that you will always hear them before you see them. Haven's heightened hearing didn't help this fact either.
Haven's grip on the spoon tightened at the sound of many people talking about twenty meters from Emily's house, knowing full too well that it was the pack of wolves that most likely included Jacob Black aka the last person she wanted to be in the same room with. Emily noticed the sudden tenseness in Haven's body and it didn't take long for her to catch on. The woman squeezed her shoulder sympathetically before moving to grab the previous batch of cookies out of the oven, she knew there was going to be a stampede of hungry boys rushing through her door.
Embry and Jared were the first two to fling themselves into the house, seemingly in the middle of a small altercation that involved shoving each other. Smiles beamed on their faces as per usual.
"Oh God, Haven is in the kitchen. Better get the ambulance on speed dial." Embry smirked Haven's way as he and Jared entered the kitchen. They both instantly scrambled for the cookies despite the teenagers joke.
Haven narrowed her eyes at him, abandoning her spooning of the mixture she was doing before. "Ha ha. You're hilarious, Embry."
"I thought so," Embry mumbled with a cookie half hanging out his mouth.
Seth, Paul and Quil were the next batch of boys through the ever revolving door of Emily's home. They seemed to also be laughing about something but that seemed to be a common theme between the shapeshifters – they were a family and got along like brothers.
Seth let out a hum of appreciation at the smell of baking that wafted throughout the home. "Are those chocolate chip?"
Emily nodded towards the boy but he had already seen for himself and almost dived to grab a few of the cookies on the plate. Quil had followed in suit.
Paul however raised an eyebrow at seeing Haven standing in the kitchen. He hadn't seen the girl since before the wedding situation and he wouldn't be Paul if he didn't have something to say about it. "Fancy seeing you here, thought you would be too busy making scenes at weddings to come and see us."
Haven rolled her eyes at Paul's words. "I didn't make a scene, only a few people heard me. Get your facts straight."
"I'm just joking," Paul came to stand beside Haven, squeezing her shoulder with one hand while his other reached for a warm cookie on the plate. "Glad you told him where to stick his opinion, someone had to do it."
Emily had to have some kind of super sense to notice that Embry was sneaking his hand around to try and grab another cookie from the plate. The older woman slapped his hand instantly with a scolding look in his direction. "Don't eat all of them before Sam and Jake come back."
Haven swore she saw Embry pout slightly. The amount of wolves in the kitchen now was ridiculous, it was not made for seven people to be in and Emily quickly realized this. "Alright, everyone there are a million seats in the living room. Move on."
"But I want more dirt on what happened at the wedding," Jared interrupted, a small smirk plastered on his face as he looked in Haven's direction. "Paul and I were the only ones not there and no one will tell us shit."
"Shouldn't have been slacking off then," Quil mumbled, getting a punch in the shoulder from Jared beside him.
Seth sent a sorrowful glance Haven's way as he could see her face fall slightly at the mention of her outburst at the wedding. He could tell it hurt her and that in turn hurt him, he didn't like seeing her upset. "Back off, Jared. She doesn't have to tell you anything."
"Exactly," Emily agreed with the youngest Clearwater, although she was slightly wounded again because Leah hadn't come back in from patrolling. She barely stepped foot in Emily's house and when she did not a word was spoken. "Now move into the living room and discuss some vampire business there."
Paul scoffed at the mother-like figure to all the wolves. "We don't only talk about vampires you know."
Embry cringed slightly. "It's actually kind of an accurate guess at we talk about."
Quil reluctantly let out a noise of approval, it was really what they talked about mostly. It was their main goal to keep people safe from the creatures so it wasn't exactly a bad thing that it was their main conversation point.
All of the wolves vacated the kitchen, sneakily grabbing at as many cookies as they can without Emily noticing – which she did but at that point it seemed it was the only thing that would make the large group of testosterone filled boys leave.
Seth was the last to leave and he made sure to send Haven a smile before he left, which the huntress happily returned. She didn't know how anyone could dislike Seth since he was easily the kindest person she had met and it wowed her every time that he was only fifteen.
"He's coming," Haven muttered both to herself and Emily as soon as she not only heard his distinct voice, but felt him in her heart. She could never escape Jacob even if she might like to. Their lives were too intertwined, they were too involved.
Emily sent the huntress a sympathetic glance knowing all too well what it was like to be fighting and resist your imprint. She knew that Haven and Jacob would eventually come back together but it was going to take time.
Haven's hearing hadn't failed her and not even a few seconds later Sam entered his shared home with Emily, Jacob was right behind him.
The brunette felt everything pause in that moment and her eyes instantly locked on his like they had time and time again. Jacob looked tired – which wasn't unseen on anyone in the pack since they worked restless nights. Everything about him was the same as Haven knew yet something about him wasn't right.
Jacob let out a surprised breath. He knew she was here, Jacob figured he would be able to pick up in his heart that she was anywhere but he still felt oddly shocked to see her in the flesh. The last time he saw Haven she was seething in anger at him and that almost ripped his heart out. Here she was now a picture of strength and slight nerves.
Haven had no clue what she was supposed to say which rendered her speechless. She felt stupid for just standing in the middle of the kitchen, staring at the boy who had once made her so comfortable yet now Haven didn't know what to do with him around.
"Hey," Jacob was the first to fill the silence riddled room. All of the wolves and Emily were watching in anticipation. A few of his pack mates looked oddly excited, others concerned. Jacob had to pretend they weren't in the room otherwise he wouldn't be able to do or say anything.
Haven felt eyes on her but the only ones that were affecting her were Jacob's. Before she could even stop herself the brunette was walking towards the door. She needed an out because she had no clue what to say to Jacob, not to mention that the anger she had previously felt about him leaving had now turned to hurt. "I can't do this," was all the girl managed to mutter under her breath before she was maneuvering her way around Jacob's body to leave Emily's house.
On instinct Jacob reached out to gently grasp Haven's wrist. He didn't want her to leave, not when he had been conjuring up what to say for days now – not that he thought he could excuse what happened.
His skin on hers sent shivers down Haven's spine, only a reminder at the connection she missed and craved. "Please don't, Jake. I can't do this with you right now."
"Please," Jacob pleaded with the girl as she turned to look back at him. She was out the door but Jacob wasn't and Haven didn't think she had the will to step back in. "I need you to just listen to me."
"No," Haven was adamant that now wasn't the right time. She was going to talk to Jacob but not now, not when she had no clue what to say and when his pack mates were watching. "You left me, Jacob. You weren't here for weeks when I wanted to talk so don't try and tell me what to do. We'll talk when I'm ready."
Haven didn't yell these words and they didn't hurt anywhere near as much as the ones did on the wedding for both people. They didn't feel like daggers coming out of Haven's mouth and Jacob didn't feel punctured at receiving them. They were strong but they weren't lethal.
Jacob knew he deserved this, even more. So he nodded in acceptance because he made his bed and it was time to lay in it. The wolf knew he was wrong and not even his pride was as strong as what he felt for Haven. He would do anything to fix what he had broken between them and inside her.
The huntress turned on her foot then and was in her car faster than she could comprehend. Haven needed to get out of there and she wouldn't be back until she was ready to talk to Jacob – she just hoped that would be sometime soon.
♡♡♡♡♡
sorry for the filler but there will be another one until things kick off after the honeymoon.
haven's relationship with all the wolves is my favorite thing ever.