Chapter 36: Tease

"Why aren't you mad at me?" Jake asked as we sat on the couch a week or so later. I was laying on him practically and looked up at him as he went on, "I was so sure you'd be more than pissed at me when I told you I imprinted and I'd have to grovel more than I have."

"I still kinda am," I said, his eyes watching me, "But only because we lost so much time. If we would have had it half the things that happened wouldn't have. But I get you needed a choice too."

"So you're not going to run off to the beach like normal?" he asked, "And I'm not going to have to fall at your feet and beg for your forgiveness?"

"As funny as it would be, no," I chuckled and shook my head, "I could be mad and throw a tantrum or I can accept that you make mistakes too, some of which I really hate, and deal with them."

"I'm still sorry," Jake sighed, "I wish I wouldn't have made so many."

"I make them too," I said, entwining our fingers, "And I don't know about you but I'm kinda tired of blowing them out of proportion. We're human, you still are too you know, and honestly, I just want to be happy."

"Me too," he smiled, "And are you?"

"Yeah," I leaned into his chest, "And you wanna know the funny part? What really helped me make my decision?"

"What?"

"The leech," I said, laughing at his look of shock as I added, "Not Drake, Edward. He told me that day what your thoughts were and… I don't know I guess it was kinda reassuring. I could finally see you were over Bella."

"You don't need him to tell you anything," Jake said, "I thought I made it obvious by keeping my eyes glued on you anyway," he snuck in a light kiss before he added, "You're my imprint; I'm going to tell you everything and anything on my mind for the rest of our lives."

"More like the rest of mine," I said, raising an eyebrow as I asked, "How does that work when you're forever young and I'll still get old?"

He kissed the hand holding his before he said, "I'm still aging just really, really slowly. We're going to take care of Drake and then I'm going to stop phasing so that we can grow old together."

"But—but you love being a wolf," I said, "You don't have to stop, not for me. So what if I get older? Age is just a number and," I bit my lip and grinned, "I already know you dig older chicks."

Jake guffawed before rolling me underneath him. His body pressing up against me brought back that familiar butterfly feeling in the pit of my stomach. His head dipped to mine and I wrapped my arms around his neck. The heat that seared my toes traveled up and lit up my entire body when his lips met mine. I ran my hands over his body, feeling the muscles beneath my fingertips. As we came up for air I smiled, "Careful, too much of that can lead to other things."

He grinned and sat up, pulling me next to him so that we were sitting semi-normally. We sat quiet for a moment and I leaned into his shoulder. "Just out of curiosity…" I started to ask, "Have you ever, you know…had sex?"

He raised a brow then said, "The only girl I ever loved before you married a bloodsucker. What do you think?"

"Yeah but," I shrugged, "It's the 21st century. Our age group doesn't always look for true love before they do that. Sometimes it's just about release."

"Well then I guess I'm a weird one," Jake shrugged, "I'd rather do that with someone I care about."

I leaned over and gave him a light kiss, "I'm glad."

"Me too," he grinned, "Because I know it'll be perfect with you."

I blushed then said, "So um—do we have to stay in today? Can we do something? My legs are kinda restless."

"Like what?"

"Can we maybe…go back to third beach?"

"You sure you want to?"

"Yeah," I said, "Besides, it's not raining today and we only get a day that's sunny like this once in awhile."

And just like that, we got up and got out. When we finally made it down to Third Beach, I marveled at the Bay again. It'd been so long since I'd seen it. This time Jake and I walked down together, hand in hand. He led me back over to the waterfall before glancing at me, "Sorry I screwed this up the first time around."

"Everyone makes mistakes," I said before scooting in close to him, "And just so you know, I still think it's romantic because I'm a big sap."

"I like you like that," Jake replied.

This time I wrapped my arms around his neck and planted a kiss on him. He returned it without hesitation and pulled me in close. Like I weighed nothing, he picked me up and held me as close as possible before setting me down on a piece of driftwood. He started to pull away and I sighed. As I was about to protest, I saw that familiar look of concern.

"Drake?" I asked, swallowing.

"I can smell him."

I looked around, my eyes darting to every tree trying to spot him. The butterflies I had from Jake disappeared and turned to a pit of dread. Jake touched my hand and said, "I need to phase, to warn everyone."

"Okay," I nodded.

Jake went a little ways away from me before he phased. Once he was a wolf, he looked around but saw nothing. Suddenly a blur came from the trees and tackled him to the ground. I gasped and stood. Jake sprung back up and chased the blur but I couldn't keep track of it because it was just too fast for my eyes to keep on it. Swiftly after, I was being held by ice cold fingers. "He's a nice dog but you won't need him," Drake whispered into my ear, "You won't need anyone but me," he took a quick inhale of my hair before he said, "I'll see you soon."

And then he was gone. Jake tore after him. As I looked down I saw my hands shaking. He touched me. He still was hell-bent to have me. It didn't matter if Jake was next to me or if I had a protector. Nothing mattered when it came to what he wanted. But why is it me? What makes me so damned special? I stood there, hands still shaking. When Jake came back, he was still in wolf form. I went straight to him, hugging him and running my hands through his fur. He just stood there a few moments, letting me before he nudged into me. "Take me home?" I uttered just above a whisper, looking at him.

As I got through my window, I faced my door and stopped. I closed my eyes briefly but saw my hands were still shaking. What the hell? I wasn't afraid of him…I'm not afraid of him…right? Then why the hell are my hands still shaking? What's wrong with me? I felt warm, loving arms wrap around me and I sighed, leaning back into them. I turned slowly and looked up into the deep brown pools staring at me. He noticed my hands and took them into his, "You okay?"

I looked at him for a minute before shaking my head and looking at the ground. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt a couple warm droplets fall. I wiped them away before I had the courage to look at him again. "I'm scared," I confessed, "I never get scared of anything but he's not giving up. Nothing's scaring him. He's not even afraid of you right next to me."

"Shhh," Jake said as he pulled me into his embrace, gently caressing me. "Don't worry," he said, "We're gonna get him," he paused a few moments then said, "But for now, I think we shouldn't go anywhere. We should probably stick at Emily's for awhile so you have more than just me for protection. If he's going to try to get to you, he'll have to take on all of us."

I nodded, squeezing him. "Jake?" I asked, "Will you promise me something?"

"Anything," he answered.

"If you guys can't stop him…"

"We will."

"But if you can't," I looked up at him, "Promise me you won't let me be one of them. I'd rather die than become a leech."

"Kelly…"

"Promise me," I begged.

Jake's eyes never left mine. He sighed and then swallowed as he nodded, "I promise."

I ran my hands up his arms and looked at him, "Do we have to go tonight or can it wait one more?"

"Why would you want to stay here one more night if he's already been after you?"

I contemplated telling what was on my mind but as they say, actions speak louder than words. I wrapped my arms around his neck again and crushed my lips to his. I pressed my body against him, letting every inch of me mold into him. He kissed me back for a brief moment then slightly pushed away and said, "Whoa…slow down."

"Sorry I just," I paused, "I know you guys will get rid of Drake, I do but I can't help but feeling like he's always going to get in our way. He already is right now and I don't want him to," I paused then added, "I love you Jake and like I said, I just want to be happy," I paused, "I'm sorry, if you want to wait I'm not gonna rush you."

"It's not that part that's buggin' me," he said, his lips then forming a straight line, "I just don't want it if it's just because of Drake," he paused and gave me a quick kiss, "I want it to be because we both want it to happen."

"I do want it to," I said, "And not because of him, well not fully. I want you and have wanted you for a long time," I looked down, "I guess I just was kinda hoping you felt the same."

Jake stepped closer to me and pulled my chin up into his kiss. The intensity kinda surprised me but I went with it, holding his arms tight. We paused for a brief second before delving back in again, this time our mouths opening to explore the others'. This time he briefly picked me up and lay me back on the bed, covering me with himself. I wrapped my legs around him as we deepened our kisses. I was so hot I could barely stand it. The man is already hot as a furnace and then add this and I'm getting heatstroke. I started to lift up my shirt but he stopped me, pulling back with a smile. Panting he said, "I think that's good enough practice for tonight."

"Tease," I said with a grin.

Jake came in for one more lingering kiss before scooting off the bed entirely. I sighed then smiled, "Ok, I guess we can go to Emily's," As I scooted off and stood next to him I added, "But teasing is not nice. I may just have to return that favor."

"You've already teased me," he countered.

"When?" I raised a brow.

He pulled me in close, "When you stripped down in my basement," he paused then added, "I didn't get much sleep that night."

"That was the bed's fault."

"Not entirely."

"Okay, okay," I grinned, "Let's go."