CHAPTER 10
"Care to explain to me what the hell you were thinking? Did you really want to get yourself killed?"
Jacob stood still, next to the fireplace where the flames were almost dying. He fixed her with a furious glare for what seemed like an eternity to Bella, but was in fact no more than a few seconds. She didn't feel like taking a tongue-lashing from her own kidnapper, so she stared at the floorboards in front of her, refusing to raise her eyes to him.
He started for the door, yanked it open and returned with an armful of firewood a few minutes later. He quietly stoked the fire. He didn't look her way even once, until the flames were dancing again in the fireplace, spreading light and heat in the room.
She still didn't dare shift from the place on the floor where he'd set her down; not only because she was afraid of his reaction, but also because she dreaded the pain that moving would cause her. She didn't want him to see or hear that; she didn't want to acknowledge her newly acquired weakness in front of him.
Her mind hadn't even processed the fact that she'd dodged a gruesome, even deathly experience, no more than twenty minutes before. Instead, the only danger she could see and think of was the strong, angry young man now standing in front of the fireplace.
Jacob only took into consideration the former possibility. He also guessed that her currently shaken state of mind wouldn't allow her to care about something as basic as preserving her health. He felt like beating himself up for not helping her regain some feeling of security by showing her some sympathy.
Well, given their present situation, he knew he shouldn't expect her reaction to be much different, but he still felt compelled to help her in some way. After all, he was the reason she was even here, to begin with…
So, he did the only thing he could think of: he turned around from his spot in front of the fireplace, took the few steps towards her, crouched in front of her and tried to help her remove her wet jacket.
But the moment his hand came in contact with her shoulder, Bella pulled her arm away with a sudden jerk. In the next moment, she snapped a terrified yet hateful glare into his eyes. He pulled his hand away as if she'd burned him, and with confusion on his face, he mumbled:
'I thought you needed help with –' He trailed off when his eyes met hers, and in the next second he shot up, standing.
'You know what? Fine! Stay in those wet clothes if that's what you want!'
Bella winced at his furious tone and lowered her eyes to her folded knees. With two strides of his long legs, he was back in front of the fireplace, visibly too nervous and unable to resume what he'd been doing before. Like a caged lion, he paced back and forth in front of the fire. She expected the worst from him now that they were alone, at night, in a stranded cabin. And she'd managed to piss him off by trying to run away. Jake ran a hand through his hair and sputtered with a faint, bitter smile:
'I really thought you were smarter than that, what with your college education and all…' The ironic smile left his face and he spoke in a lower voice, as if trying to accentuate each word:
'If I wanted to take advantage of you, I'd have done it long ago. I had plenty of occasions and the will for that…' he said the last words turning his face away from her.
Bella dared to slowly raise her gaze up to him. She noticed how the lights of the fire danced over his boyish yet manly face, his jaw tightened, brows furrowed. She saw the lights flickering in his dark eyes the moment he turned to her again, and he looked angrier than before:
'You're so selfish that… it's unbelievable! All you care about is your own comfort and you're not even doing that right! '
It was at this moment that Bella acknowledged the discomfort of her wet, cold clothes. She wished she would have let him help her remove them. She might have already been warm by now…
'Do you think we're on a hike for my own amusement? I wish it was, but every moment I can't stop thinking that my sister might be in the hands of who-knows-what sleazebag, and I can't…it's driving me insane!...That's how every minute feels until I find her… and the thought that I might get to her too late – '
Jake spoke the last words in a strangled voice before he trailed off. His eyes fixated on the fire and Bella noticed that his hands were clenching the back of the wooden chair so tight that his knuckles had turned almost white.
He abruptly sat down on the wooden floor next to the chair, his arms on his knees and resting his head on them, so that his eyes were averted. She knew what he had said wasn't meant to be purely informative. Jacob was in no state of mind to talk with detachment about why he escaped. It was mostly an outburst of his inner torment - not his first - but Bella had to admit, it was quite restrained compared to the last one. She'd seen him do much worse and she was definitely not expecting less this time.
In any case, speaking about it had only made it worse for him, and Bella couldn't help but feel bad about her part of the guilt. He was right, she was selfish and inconsiderate, not to mention immature, to a certain extent.
Jacob hadn't shifted from his position and the only sound in the room was the snap of the blazing firewood. She was sure that Jacob wanted her around now, just as much as she'd wanted him right before meeting the bear. She thought she'd do him a favor by not bothering him for the rest of the evening. If she could quietly take off her sticky jacket, sneakers and maybe jeans too, she'd wrap herself in that questionable-looking blanket, and just go to sleep …come what may the next day.
So first, off with the jacket…owww! ….
The pain that shot through her the moment she tried to move her right arm, made Bella whimper and then break into uncontrollable sobs.
No, she couldn't hold it back anymore now. It wasn't just the pain in her shoulder, it was the feeling of helplessness. She had none of her loved ones around; no one she could trust. She cried for every minute of terror, and every hour of anguish she'd been put through these last few days.
It was for not knowing what would happen to her tomorrow and when this nightmare would finally be over…
Jacob lifted his head to look at her, and after a few moments, he was by her side, slowly peeling the uncomfortable clothes and sneakers away from Bella's shivering body. The process caused Bella an incredible amount of physical pain, in spite of Jacob trying to focus on hurting her as little as possible.
He understood what the actual cause was when he got a look at her bare shoulders and ankles. Even in the dim light, he could see that her right shoulder looked visibly deformed, and one of her ankles was slightly swollen.
"Does this hurt?" Jacob asked, while running his fingers down Bella's upper right arm, applying very gentle pressure. Bella shook her head 'no' and wiped away the tears from her cheeks with her left hand.
"Good. Hopefully it's only dislocated, and not broken. I've seen this before, I know how to put it back, so don't worry," Jake informed her calmly, while Bella stared at him, eyes as wide as saucers.
"Can you move your toes?" Jacob asked, now looking at her right foot. Bella wiggled her toes a couple of times and scowled from the pain.
"OK, first things first; your shoulder."
Jacob looked at the chair that he was now happy he hadn't smashed and thrown into the fire, the way he had felt tempted to a little earlier. He took the better blanket, unfolded it and covered the chair with it.
"You have to sit on the chair. I'll help you." Expecting Jacob to help her rise to her feet, Bella extended her left arm to him. He ignored it and instead scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the chair. After sitting her down, he helped her fold her right arm in her lap, and held it firmly around the elbow-joint with one of his large hands.
"This will hurt a little, but you'll be fine afterwards," Jacob said, looking apprehensively into her eyes for a second. Not wanting to let her get even more scared in anticipation, he put all his focus into synchronizing the quick downward pull of her arm and bump of his fist side to her shoulder, hoping that it was all it would take to fix the problem.
"OUCH!" Bella yelped and involuntarily tried to jump up from the chair, only to be instantly reminded by a different pain that she couldn't stand on both feet.
"Bella, move your right shoulder!" Jacob ordered, trying to calm her down. Bella obeyed reluctantly and was nothing short of amazed to see that she could move her right arm as naturally as ever. She was so amazed that the sharp pain had just ceased, that she couldn't stop the elated grin from spreading on her face.
But shortly, she checked herself, thinking this wasn't the time for exaggerated reactions. Lowering her eyes to her hand, she muttered a 'thank you'. The trace of a smile touched Jacob's shapely lips and his eyes softened for a moment before he instructed her:
"Stay here, I'll be right back." He dashed to the door, grabbing the bucket on his way out. After he shut the door behind him, Bella stayed still in the relative silence of the cabin, and she couldn't help but notice that it somehow felt heavy.
She'd never before imagined being alone in a place like this, and now, even given the circumstances, she was sure she wouldn't want to. She became aware that she was sitting on a cracked wooden chair in only her white cotton tank top and panties. A shiver made her wrap the blanket she was sitting on around herself.
It wasn't from the cold, as she was quite close to the heat radiating from the fire, but the thought that Jacob had seen her like this. Actually, he had gotten her in this state of undress, and Bella had to admit that he hadn't made any gesture or thrown her any inappropriate looks to make her feel uneasy.
Jacob came back into the room carrying the bucket half-filled with water.
"It's from the stream" he explained."I couldn't find any ice around, so... this should help the swelling go down a little," he added. He placed the bucket in front of her and carefully lifted her right foot.
Supporting her shin with one hand and her heel with the other, he warned her before inserting her foot into the bucket. "It's pretty cold".
Bella's groan and grimace were her only reply, but after having her foot in the water for a few seconds, she realized that the coldness indeed helped to diminish the pain.
"Keep it there for awhile," he added.
He stood up and took his t-shirt off. Bella's eyes flew open wide at the sight of a half-naked Jacob, now ripping the thin-cotton shirt he'd had on a a minute ago into long, narrow strips.
And what a sight it was... Bella mentally rebuked herself for letting her eyes linger a bit too long on his wide, strong shoulders and arms, his contoured chest, perfectly shaped stomach and tapering waist.
What made it even more difficult to keep her eyes to herself was the way the ambery glow of the fire bounced off his smooth, russet skin. It made Bella feel ghostly pale in comparison, and happy that she had a large blanket to cover most of herself in.
Luckily, he was too busy concentrating on what he was doing to have noticed Bella's ruminations.She waited patiently and watched while Jacob snapped one long wooden slat off the back of the broken chair, then broke it in half. He approached her with the pieces of wood and strips of cloth in one hand, and the remains of his t-shirt in the other. When he lowered himself in front of her legs, Bella felt her face flush.
The realization that she could do nothing to control it, made her feel even more embarassed. She tried to will it down by keeping her eyes on the foot that Jacob was now wiping dry with a piece of his former t-shirt. She knew her reaction didn't go unnoticed by Jacob when she felt his gaze studying her face while he wrapped the wood pieces with the cotton bands, and tied them tightly to the back and sole, of her foot.
To her relief, all Jacob said when he finished bandaging her foot was „done". Then he picked her up in his arms once again and carefully lowered her onto one of the matresses. The last thing Bella heard before drifting off to sleep was a whispered „goodnight".
Strangely, it made her dream of a time when she was still a little girl, visiting her father in Forks for the summer, and he would tuck her in for sleep, wearing a rare, serene smile.
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A/N: Thank you once again for your support !
This Christmas, may joy and happiness snow on you, may the bells jingle for you and may Santa be extra good to you! Merry Christmas!