Chapter 28:

Hot diggity damn, I'm free

Leah's point of view:

I wasn't the least bit surprised when I opened my eyes the next morning and found Jacob snoring on my floor. Well, at least he hadn't stayed up all night watching me sleep. That really wigged me out. I didn't like to be the center of attention when I wasn't conscious. It was just weird.

I pushed myself up against my bed frame. A sharp pain from my stomach shot through my body and I gasped out a shocked growl.

"Shit!"

Jacob was on his feet two seconds later.

"What? What is it?" He looked around defensively. He looked like a retarded football player hopping around like a lunatic. I just cocked an eyebrow at him and laughed as he tripped over his feet.

"Charming," I said sarcastically.

"God, Leah, you scared the crap out of me." He collapsed on to his makeshift bed on the floor.

That's right. When I say "jump", you ask "how high?" I grinned in thought.

"You okay?" he asked.

No. My stomach still hurts. Of course, it wasn't as intense as last night. My wounds were still aching, but at least I could move without wanting to scream bloody murder. I pushed myself to the edge of my bed and stood up.

"Never been better." I lied.

"Liar," he said with a laugh. He looked at me intently for a moment and nodded in satisfaction. "Your color does look a lot better this morning." He sounded pleased.

"Glad you approve." I yawned. "So, is this whole sleeping in my room thing going to become a regular occurrence?"

"With any luck…" Jacob smiled up at me.

"You are such a horndog." I rolled my eyes.

He just grinned back at me.

"Would you kindly get out of my room so I can change?" I still had on my clothes from yesterday. I was burning up. I wasn't used to sleeping in clothes. But I knew that Jacob was going to sleep over last night or else I would have just thrown my clothes onto the floor. If I'd had my way I would have just slept naked. Something tells me that Jacob wouldn't have minded that. I sighed. God, why was the world filled with such horny sex-crazed maniacs? And why was I one of them?

Sadly, I didn't mind that Jacob slept in my room last night. Because I really didn't care anymore. I had gotten used to him hanging here. And last night he felt some need to protect me from something that had already happened. It's not like he could go back and declaw Sam. Though, that would have been a fun thing to do. I laughed when I pictured what Sam might have done if he didn't have any claws to fight with. He would have gone to claw me and then glanced at his feet in wonder when nothing happened. I could see him pawing at me furiously. "What the hell? Why isn't this working?"

All the while I would be laughing at him. "Aww, who's a cute little kitty? You are! Yes you are!"

Perhaps if we declawed and neutered Sam he would be a less threatening douchebag.

I looked at Jacob, who was still staring at me. He hadn't left yet? How could I get him out of here? I thought of the one thing I knew he couldn't resist.

"Why don't you go eat Seth and I out of house and home?" I suggested.

"You sure you don't need any help?" he asked. He looked sincere when he was asking, so I was fairly certain that it didn't have anything to do with seeing me naked.

"I think I can manage." I nodded.

When he stood up I noticed a few healed cuts and scrapes. I looked closer and saw some dried blood next to his ear and matted into his hair.

"What the…Jake, is that blood?" I walked over to him and took a closer look. I saw that he had more dried blood on his arm.

"What is with all of this?" I pointed to the blood on his arm.

"Crap, I thought I got it all." He licked his thumb and then rubbed the blood out with his spit.

"Wow, that was…really gross." Cleaning blood with spit? Nasty. It's a good thing there wasn't an actual wound where he'd just wiped his spit. Cleaning a cut with drool wasn't exactly sterile. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Nothing," Jacob shrugged. He didn't look hurt. The lucky bastard.

"Doesn't look like nothing." I pointed out. I pulled a leaf out of his hair. "Did you go out and wrestle with a grizzly bear or something last night?" Why was I pulling crap out of his hair?

Jacob forced out a chuckle, "Nah, I wouldn't even call him a cub." He shook his head. "Just Sam."

"Jake, you didn't…" I frowned at him. Though my words said something different, I was really secretly hoping that Jacob had kicked Sam's ass.

"We just had a little chat," he sneered.

"Since when does talking end in bloodshed?" I questioned.

"We're guys. We can't communicate unless we're beating the crap out of each other," Jacob admitted. I could see another look on his face. One that so convincingly said, "And also, he deserved it."

"And what did you two communicate about exactly?" I asked.

I expected him to mumble incoherently and ignore the question. But instead he surprised me with his honesty.

"Well, after I pummeled him for what he did to you we talked about the structure in the pack and our disagreement over what should be done about the Cullens," he said. "It took us a while to get past the name calling. He kept calling me Judas. And I just looked at him like an idiot because I didn't get his reference. And that pissed me off, so I called him a temperamental ball buster. Then we started fighting again for a few minutes. But eventually we settled down and started to actually talk…with words and stuff."

"And?"

"He still thinks Nessie is a threat." He paused. "But he won't do anything about it. Because I quit last night."

"You…quit?" I gawked. How was it fair that he got to walk away from the pack while I was completely stuck? I let out a grumble. "You jackass!"

"Huh?" He looked surprised by my anger.

"You're just going to leave me there? With him?" What happened to Jacob promising never to hurt me? This hurt me. "Well, that's just great," I snapped sarcastically.

"You didn't let me finish…" Jacob frowned. He got flustered as he tried to explain. "I'm not the only one leaving."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm taking you and Seth with me."

Though that made us sound like some kind of consolation prize, I couldn't be happier to hear it.

"How?" That was the only question in my mind right now.

"You both told me you would rather follow me than him. So if you want to come with me I'm leaving the pack."

"Is that even possible? To have two packs?"

"Apparently so." Jacob nodded. "The packs never had a reason to split before this. Looks like I'm going down in the history books as the first rebel werewolf of our tribe."

Something crossed my mind. Sam would be losing me, Jacob, and Seth. That really dwindled his numbers.

"How pissed is Sam right now?" I laughed.

"He threw a fit. Told me that I was going to regret the day that I was born."

"I told him the same thing when he broke up with me."

"You should have seen his face when I told him that I was going to tell the rest of the guys and let them decide whether they wanted to follow me or him."

"But you don't want the Alpha position." I understood why Seth and I would be part of Jacob's pack, but the fact that he was offering it to the rest of the guys showed me just how nice of a guy Jacob Black could be…when he wasn't busy being an arrogant bastard.

"I'm not doing it for me," Jacob said. He glanced away from me. "Sam was livid. Once you're healed we might have to lay low for a while."

"Mexico or Canada?"

"This is serious…" He frowned. I just stared at him and after a moment he let out a sigh. "Canada's closer."

"I hear they have really good maple syrup." I shrugged. I cringed when I moved my shoulders. Stupid stomach wounds. But hey, still better than yesterday.

I let the realization hit my brain. I didn't have to listen to Sam anymore. I was free. And it was all thanks to Jacob. I glanced at him. He had pulled away from Sam. He saw me grinning at him.

"What?" Jacob asked.

I have never wanted you more. Now please leave…as I am injured but I still don't know how to say "no" to my urges.

"Is something wrong?" Jacob asked.

"I'd like to change my clothes sometime today." I motioned for him to leave the room.

Get out of here before I rip your pants off…

Jacob watched me out of the corner of his eyes as he slowly walked out of the room.

"Hey, do me a favor and put some clothes on. I don't want my mom to get the wrong idea," I suggested. "I'm sure Seth has something that will fit."

I shut my door behind him and grabbed some clean clothes. I pulled my shirt off and glanced down at the bandages. Some of the blood from yesterday had soaked through. I decided I would just leave those bandages on for now instead of changing them out. I was afraid to take the pressure off of my stomach because I didn't want it to start gushing blood again. Plus I really didn't want to fight with the gauze again. It had kicked my ass last time. I took what was left of the roll gauze and wrapped a fresh layer across the blood that had seeped through, just in case Seth and Jacob decided to hold me down and do a bandage inspection. That way they wouldn't see blood and freak out. I don't think they understood that healing takes time. I was already feeling better than I had yesterday. I just had to be careful not to make any sudden movements or my internal organs might fall out.

"Ah, ow, yeah…nobody mind me. I'm just crawling around the floor looking for my appendix. Found it! Oh, no wait. That's just a smashed cherry tomato…"

When I was dressed I made my way into the kitchen. Seth was already sitting at the table, eating waffles.

"Hey, sis!"

"Why are you in such a good mood?" I asked suspiciously.

"Cuz we're not Sam's bitches anymore," he said with pep. Apparently, Jacob had already talked to him about the fact that he'd broken away from Sam.

I sat down at the table and Seth gave me a concerned look.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"I'm pretty sure if I eat anything right now it's just going to fall out of my stomach." I joked. I grabbed a piece of fruit from the fruit bowl in the center of the table and started nibbling on it. I looked around. "Hey, where's idiot number two?" I didn't see Jacob around anywhere.

"He's outside talking to Quil and Embry."

Looks like we were going to be joined by idiots three and four pretty soon. A few minutes later I heard the front door open. I wasn't at all surprised to see Embry and Quil walking in behind Jacob.

"Hey, Leah." Quil waved when he walked in. "How's your gut?"

"Exactly what a woman wants to hear first thing in the morning." I knew what he was trying to ask, but I couldn't help but give him a hard time.

"I see Sam left your cynicism intact," Quil snorted.

Stocky asshole.

I heard Jacob growl something at him.

"Dude, she started it," Quil said quietly.

"I don't care. I'm finishing it." Jacob frowned.

"I haven't even been here five minutes and you're already giving me orders." Quil shook his head and let out a laugh. "But man, it's sure as hell better than Sam."

That answered my question about who else was going to be in Jacob's little pack. Quil, Embry, and Jacob joined Seth and me at the table.

"Hey, are there any more waffles? Those look good." Embry glanced at Seth, who was finishing up his waffles.

"In the freezer. Help yourself." Seth shrugged.

Why don't you just shove what little money mom has down their throat? I frowned silently at my brother.

"So, you're going to do the whole renegade thing, too?" I asked Quil and Embry.

"Yep. Jake called us and told us what was going on last night."

"Yeah. I let most of the guys think about it overnight." Jacob grabbed some orange juice from the refrigerator.

"What did the rest of the pack have to say?" I asked curiously.

"It's just going to be Embry and Quil." Jacob answered my not-so-subtle question. I could see him tense up in thought. "I knew Jared wouldn't abandon Sam. They're best friends."

"And lovers." I grinned. "The douchey-est lovers in the world."

"God, can you just knock off your childish comments for two seconds?" Seth rolled his eyes at me.

"I will as soon as you stop all of your fart jokes and potty humor," I said. My brother could be such a big baby.

"It'll be nice to be just us." Embry smiled.

Speak for yourself, I mumbled in thought.

"I think the real reason Paul declined is because he was too afraid that you'd order him to stop dating your sister." Quil laughed.

Jacob let out a low growl, "I'm glad he decided he didn't want to be part of this pack. Now I don't have to hear his vulgar thoughts about my sister." He unconsciously squeezed the carton of orange juice too tight and it spilled over on to the floor.

"Dude, you killed it." Seth frowned at the destroyed carton of juice. "Aw, and that was a new carton, too."

"And what about the younger guys?" I asked.

"Collin and Brady have spent most of their time training with Jared or Sam. And they wanted to stay with them. Which is fine. This pack is big enough as it is." Jacob quickly cleaned up his mess and sat down at the table with a glass of water. He'd killed all of the orange juice.

"Yeah, you gonna be cool with us hanging around here a little bit more?" Embry asked Seth and me. Seth just shrugged out a grunt. What a primitive little caveman thing to do.

"I was never 'cool' with you two dimwits being here in the first place. Ever." I made my feelings perfectly clear.

"Well, get used to it...cuz we're gonna be hanging out more often." Quil shoved a banana in his mouth.

"Oh, that's nice. Are you practicing your blowjob techniques so you can surprise your boyfriend?" It took all of my self control not to shove the banana further into his mouth so he would choke on it.

Jacob laughed softly and leaned over to me.

"I know they annoy you, but give them a chance. They're really not so bad once you get past their…" He tried to find a word to describe his friends.

I thought of a perfect one. "Idiocy?"

"Exactly." Jacob nodded.

"Hey, check it out…" Quil grabbed his empty water glass and put it up around his lips. He covered his mouth with the top of the cup and sucked in a bunch of air, puckering his cheeks and making the glass stay on his face without help from his hands.

"Fantastic, are these two morons going to be sleeping here as well?" I chuckled darkly.

"Hell, no. They've got their own damn beds." Jacob shook his head.

"So do you. But that doesn't keep you out of here at night." I frowned.

Jacob ignored me. He turned to his buddies and they started chattering loudly. Seth and Quil laughed at something stupidly boyish that Embry had done. Jacob joined in the laugher.

There was a knock at the front door.

"Great, who else did you invite to the party?" I asked Jacob.

He looked confused.

There was another knock.

"Don't everyone rush at once to get it." I slowly stood up. This whole "taking it easy" thing was not easy at all. What a conundrum.

Seth frowned at me as I walked out of the kitchen. "I was gonna get it, Leah…"

"No, no. Eat your sugary breakfast." I shook my head. I walked to the door grumbling to myself, "Oh, sure, have the injured girl be the god damn doorman." I swung open the front door and let out a shocked gasp.

My cousin was standing in front of me holding a basket of muffins. I didn't know whether to slam the door in her face, or to steal the muffins and then slam the door in her face.

She saw my perplexed look.

"Hello, Leah."

"Emily?" What the hell are you doing here?

She stood motionless for a few minutes. I could feel her anxiety and fear. After a moment she leaped forward and embraced me in a hug. My stomach burned in pain. I pushed her off of me gently.

"I'm sorry. I'm just glad to see that you're okay." She glanced at the ground nervously. "Sam told me about what happened."

"He did?" I had to say, I was impressed that he'd told Emily what he'd done.

"He feels really bad," she sighed. "I've never seen him so despondent. The last time I saw him so desolate was when…" She trailed off and then picked back up in a shaky voice. "...after my accident."

"Yeah, and you know as well as I do that he can't take it back." I frowned. So, what are you doing here? I waved her in.

"I wanted to see that you were okay." Emily followed me in. "I brought muffins."

Oh, well, that makes everything okay then. I thought to myself sarcastically. So she was here to deliver a "Please forgive me for trying to maim you" muffin basket.

"Seth's going to go crazy. He loves your muffins." Of course, Seth loved anything that he could eat. I was fully convinced that he'd eat dirt if it had any nutritional value.

She sighed uncomfortably, "How are you doing?"

"You mean other than the throbbing pain?" I accidentally let my anger seep through. "Sorry. I'm fine."

"No, it's okay. I was angry, too," Emily admitted.

So that's why she was here? To try and bond with me since we both knew how it felt to have a werewolf lose his temper and claw on us? I had to be cordial to her for my family's sake, but I didn't have to be her friend. I loved her because she was my cousin, but I sure as hell didn't want to spend time with her.

"Why are you here, Em?" I sighed.

"I was worried."

"You were worried about me being hurt?" HA! She didn't seem to worry very much when Sam broke up with me to be with her. "Look, I appreciate your concern, but I can't do this whole 'friendship' thing with you right now."

"What are you talking about?" Emily questioned.

I'm talking about the fact that you're with my ex-boyfriend! I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. I didn't have it in me to pretend that everything was fine between us. When she asked me to be a bridesmaid at her wedding to Sam I'd said "yes" because I didn't want to come off as a bitch, but it still killed me to see them together.

"We are friends, Lee…"

We'd grown up together. And that only made it hurt more when Sam left me for her.

"You're my cousin. I love you. But the truth is…" I sighed. The truth is…I don't like you very much. Why couldn't I say it out loud? Oh, right. Because my mom would lay into me for being mean to my cousin. "The truth is…I'm just a little worn out on visitors right now."

"Ah…" Emily nodded. "I understand." She glanced at the door. She turned her back to me and sighed. "He feels terrible…" Her voice started to crack. "I…uh…haven't said a word to him since he told me."

She was giving Sam the silent treatment? Wow. She hadn't even ignored him after he maimed her face. I had to wonder…was she withholding sex, too? God, that would be hysterical.

She turned around to face me, "I am so sorry."

"Don't apologize for him," I snorted.

She shook her head. "I'm not." So, she was apologizing for herself.

This wasn't the first time that Emily had apologized to me for her love for Sam. And every time she asked for my forgiveness I always stared at her and silently wished that I could scratch her eyes out and pull her hair. Then I felt like shit because Sam had already done that to her. The only time I was willing to accept her apology is when she was in the hospital after Sam attacked her. That whole "deathbed" thing wasn't bullshit. When someone you love is laid up in the hospital you'd grant them whatever request they wanted. Hell, she could have asked me to put on a "Barney" suit and entertain Claire while Claire's mother visited her and I probably would have done it. Fortunately, that task fell to Seth. I had pictures that I was going to show on his wedding day.

"I can't leave him." Emily loved Sam. I knew that. And I hated that. But there was nothing I could do about it. "You know none of this was on purpose."

"I know." I frowned. How do you "accidentally" fall in love with your cousin's boyfriend?

"I don't…I don't know what to say to him."

"I highly doubt that you want my advice on what you should say to him. The words I have for him aren't very lady-like." Hell, some of the words I was thinking would probably make prisoners cringe.

"This is the longest we've ever gone without talking," Emily admitted.

I sighed. I couldn't believe that I was about to say this. I was really going to hate myself for it.

"Don't let me come between you two." I sure as hell haven't before.

"He really does feel horrible," she said quietly.

Yeah? Well, so do I. Stomach wounds hurt. I bit my tongue and stared at her in silence.

"Lee, I've never seen him so upset. He cried last night."

Against my better judgment I decided not to laugh. Sam Uley cut open my stomach and he was the one who was crying?

"Then maybe he should have thought twice before he attacked her." Jacob appeared in the doorway. He frowned. "I'm sorry you found out the way that you did. I acted like a bit of a dick last night."

Okay, what the hell had Jacob done last night?

"It's completely understandable." Emily glanced at me and then at Jacob. I grunted. Did she have to be so damn understanding? "But the next time that you come into my house screaming like a maniac I will beat you upside the head with a wooden spoon."

"Fair enough." Jacob nodded.

Lucky for me Emily didn't stay for much longer. She told me to call her and let her know how I was doing, but she knew that I wouldn't. I sighed as I watched her disappear.

"Well…" I frowned sourly. "That couldn't have gone better."

"Least she brought you some muffins." Jacob grabbed one from the basket.

I hated Emily's muffins. They were the talk of the damn town. Plus, Sam loved them. And I hated anything that Sam liked. I know that made me childish, but I didn't care.

As for Emily well, had I known that Little Red-Riding-Hood was going share her muffins with the big bad wolf I would have stolen the woodsman's axe and hacked the wolf and that tramp Red to pieces.

Jacob gently touched my arm and directed me towards the kitchen. Guess he was leading his injured cow out to pasture.

I knew he wanted me to sit down. And damn him for being right I did need to.

"Come on. I made you some waffles. You're going to eat them," he said.

"Is that an order?" I chuckled.

"Yes," he said seriously as he disappeared into the kitchen. As I watched him go I thought about the way he was acting towards me. I don't think he was going to give up this protective crap any time soon. Because he actually cared about me.

I sighed. I wasn't really sure, but I think Jacob Black was now somehow my boyfriend.