Jake

He ran after the girl furiously. In the distance he could see her stomping off. She almost tripped and stopped to examine her shoe.

He caught up to her as she stooped to remove her shoes which seemed to be growing uncomfortable. She didn't acknowledge his presence but she felt him as she clutched them in her hand. Jake's eyes were intense as he approached the girl, her eyes were downcast.

"Lily-

"Don't say anything." He could hear the strong determination in her voice to not crack, but her hands trembled and she balled them in an attempt to stop the shaking, "I asked you for one thing-

"I'm-

"One thing Jake. Do not embarrass me. Please don't be with someone else while with me. I accept that we weren't anything, but you agreed Jake," she shook her head and stared at him with a disappointed air. "I just don't know what to say," she made a move away from him.

He grabbed her as she turned away from him, her small arm made his fingers overlap and she – in her light skinny frame, was weightless in his grasp. "Let me drive you home, you can't go anywhere from here-

"I'll be at a motel… I'll take a bus home or-or call a taxi." Her eyes seemed wild and confused.

"No." He pulled her in the direction of his motorcycle where he could see Sherry standing in the middle of the road with wary eyes.

"Why couldn't you just tell me from the beginning?" Her mouth shook, "She… she likes you and I hurt her just as you've hurt me-

"Lily stop it!" He turned on her now, towering over her trembling frame, "I'm sorry." His eyes were narrowed, "I didn't want to hurt you. You're a good friend." When her eyes watered at him he pulled her in closely, "it was stupid of me. I know."

He held her for a long time, feeling her body shake, her determination crumbled and then her arms snaked around him like ribbons, "I know. But I just can't do this with you anymore, I can't be your distraction, and hurt her in the process."

He didn't know what to say to that.

"Let's get you home." He responded instead.

Sherry

She watched him pull the girl who resisted just a little bit towards her. She felt fear in her heart, she was afraid Jake would lash out on her; afraid Jeff might just figure everything out. Afraid Jakes mother would shun her, afraid to face Lily. Ashamed.

"What is going on?" Jeff whispered as he came to her side and Jake ignored Sherry, towing Lily towards his motorcycle. He then turned towards the house, she assumed to tell his mother goodbye and get his coat and the small woman's jacket.

"Nothing, nothing," She whispered softly to him. This wasn't right, she knew it. She didn't want to do this anymore. She didn't – and couldn't, feel about Jeff the same way she felt with Jake. There was just no way it would happen, he could never awaken the same feelings. She didn't need Jeff, but she needed her best friend. "Jeff, let's go back to my place, I need to tell you something," She said to him carefully.

He nodded; pulling her tightly to his side for what she knew would be the last time.

Jake

Jake watched Jeff and Sherry leave with a sense of anger. She had caused this. Right? The lines became very blurred wherever she was involved, but he didn't care about her at the moment. He needed to get Lily home and get this straightened out with Sherry afterwards.

The entire ride back to her apartment was one of silence forced upon them by the roaring of the motorcycle. When they finally reached her apartment he was not shocked to see that she was demure and distant. Her eyes were downcast and she looked pensive.

"Lily," he called her attention as she climbed off the bike and peeled the helmet away from her head, she looked up at him expectantly.

"Jake, there's nothing to say. I'm not hurt, I swear, I'm just… embarrassed." She didn't say it easily. The words escaped her with a bit of a hiss, "but it's not anything I won't get over."

"You're making this way easier then I deserve." He said with a light air. She smirked at him.

"I know, you deserve to get slapped, by Sherry and I both."

"I'd rather not be."

"I know." She stated firmly and then let out a sad smile. "I'll talk to you tomorrow or something."

He nodded at her, slightly embarrassed. Before she could say another word he peeled out of the driveway.

Sherry

"You're not going to like what I have to say. But I have to say it." Sherry whispered as she paced inside her apartment. Jeff watched her with a look of worry, he knew what was going to happen. He could see it written all over her face. "This past few months have been great," Her mouth moved softly and deftly over the words. "I adore you, as a friend. You've been there for me and have made me see things in ways that no one else ever could," her eyes began to water and she stopped walking to look at him in the eyes, "but I just do not feel the same way for you that you would rather I did." He sat there staring at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… that I think its best we stopped dating… or whatever it is that this is. I think you and I are friends and that is all that we will ever be." Her eyes went to her feet.

Jeff said nothing. He simply stood up and went to her, he tilted her face up and to her sorrow she saw that his eyes were watering just a bit, "Why are you doing this? Is it Jake? Do you love him?"

She nodded, pulling her face away from Jeff's touch she stepped back a bit and just shuddered under his strong gaze, "Jeff, I'm sorry-

"You're apologizing to me over your feelings?" He asked with a sharp laugh. It was almost cruel.

"Don't laugh –

"I have every right to laugh at you, you foolish woman!" He barked, "You're going to give yourself over to him, that piece of –

"Don't talk about him like that!"

"I have every right! He doesn't know what he wants and he most certainly knows nothing about you! Everyday it seems you and him are arguing about something new! You hardly seem to know what it is that you want but you stand there and you tell me that you love him! How can you love someone that you are always fighting with. I've given you months of nothing but bliss and yet I'm the one that is tossed out like a stray dog, and yet you think this situation is not humorous."

"It's not. I'm sorry!" She pleaded with him, but she didn't know what it was that she was pleading as he glared at her and she took his hands into her own. "I'm so sorry." She cried. "I wish this wasn't the way I felt. I know it's irrational, don't you think I know that?"

"I don't know Sherry, it calls into question your sanity."

She shuddered away from him, he was glaring at her coldly. His eyes darkened and glistened, "Please dnt make this harder then it has to be. I always told you we were not boyfriend and girlfriend, or anything of the sort, we were trying things out and this was always a possibility. You knew that. Why are you acting-

"Because of all people its him! You think me inferior to him!" He lashed out suddenly and grabbed her against him. Sherry shved him back.

"Don't ever put your hands on me!"

"Ah! Of course not – only Jake gets to do that right!" He hissed and then stumbled back.

Sherry's palm stung as it connected with his face. Her eyes were wide with fear as he held his cheek and then stilled. She could see the blood crawl up t his cheek and then the strong change in his demeanor as he started towards her direction. She didn't want to hurt him so she backed up away from him but he caught her around the nape of her neck and pulled her in closely as if he wanted to kiss her.

His hands tied into her hair and she yelped and held onto his hands, trying to pull them away. She could throw a kick at him but it would probably result in his death, and she didn't want to injure him.

"You try my patience." He hissed viciously at her and shoved her roughly away from him so that her hip collided with the wall. She didn't yelp at the contact and simply caught herself against the wall, holding her hip and watching him warily. His hand lashed out again and he grabbed one of her vases and smashed it on the wall she leaned against, it crashed beside her head and she screamed as he hurled another one.

"YOU PSYCHOPATH!"

"YOU SLUT!" He hurled back at her and with it another vase.

"GET OUT! NOW!" Her screech sent shivers down her spine and before she knew it he was stomping out.

Sherry didn't know for how long she sat on her bed crying. How did everything get so messed up. This was not the way this should have happened, if she had just accepted her emotions earlier this would have been over with long ago. But no, she wanted to remain ignorant towards her feelings, and now here she was.

Upon looking up at her watch she realize she'd been crying for at least an hour after Jeff left.

Sherry took her clothing off and glared at the bruise on her hip, healing it and then turning to her drawer she grabbed one of Jake's T-shirts and a pair of sweats. She wasn't in the mood to be picky today. It was as she bent to give food to her cats that she suddenly heard a sound.

It was of her apartment door opening and closing. The faint click made her heart jump.

Quickly Sherry dived silently towards her bed and pulled out a purse which held ammo and guns. She took out a handgun and quickly loaded it with bullets. Her mind shifted and she felt like her old self again, focused and alert.

Quickly she went towards the hallway that would lead to her living room. She could see a tall shadowy figure approaching her living room with its smashed jars and vases all over the floor.

She put her finger on the trigger and just as she was about to pull the voice snapped her out of it.

"Sherry!"

"Jake!"

She lowered the weapon as his tall form turned to her and then he took long strides in her way and caught her face in between his hands and smashed his mouth to her own.

It shocked her. Her hands trembled and she rose on her toes, eager to keep the connection of his mouth and hers there. She had been yearning for this for a long time.

"Are you alright?" He asked her warily, "I saw that the front door wasn't locked. That's not like you. And then the glass all over the floor. I thought something happened to you."

"Nothing happened to me," she lied easily and shivered as his hands went around her. She had the terribly urge to cry suddenly. "I'm so sorry Jake," Her voice shook and trembled. "I'm so sorry." Her voice became unintelligible even in her own ears as sobs rocked her body like an earthquake.

"Stop, you need to calm down and then you can explain to me what happened here." He took the gun out of her hand and led her carefully to her bedroom where the cats sat on the bed with uninterested eyes. She did as he said and took a seat as he put the gun on her dresser and then pulled up a chair in front of her shaking form.

"What happened?" He asked apprehensively, he could tell that the smashed vases had something to do with Jeff, he could put that much together.

She took a deep breath, "Jeff took me home. And basically, I told him that I didn't want to be with him anymore." She noticed him tense up. "He got mad and told me if it was because of you .I told him that I wanted this to be over, between me and him and that he always knew that this was always a possibility. Of course – he didn't' take it too well. And he started smashing the vases and I just…" Her shoulders shook with the threat of a sob, "I just can't do this anymore Jake. I love you."

Jake

The words shook him to his core. Jake Muller had never heard those words said towards him except by his mother. And now his best friend, his petite blonde cried her heart out to him and confessed that she loved him. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she had broken her relationship with Jeff for Jake.

"Say something to me," she whispered brokenly. Her eyes were red and the blue was bright and piercing.

"I don't know what you want me to say," he responded distantly.

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"You break up with him-

"We were never together."

"And now you tell me you love me."

"Yes." Her eyes were frightened now. She was taking her hands and fidgeting with her hair and standing up in the process.

Jake stood up to his full height, she stared up at him and shivered. "Am I supposed to tell you that I love you now, is that it?"

"Why are you being so cold." Her eyes watered again and her heart felt like it was breaking. First she hurts Lily, then Jeff, and now Jake – who had told her how he felt for her earlier, was rejecting her?

"I'm trying to get my head around this." He pulled her gently to him as she started backing up, "How do you expect me to react to something like that." He asked, his mouth was close to her own and she pulled her face away from him, embarrassed. "Tell me."

"Does it matter how I want you to react? You've already given me all I need to know to see how you feel about me" Sherry's breath became labored. Oh God, everything is falling apart.

"Jake, just leave." Her hands pushed away from him and she backed out of his grasp and took her cats into her arms, placing them on the floor and then pulling the covers. He watched her with a confused gaze. "Just, go home."

Her eyes were tired, he could see that. Her body looked drained and her stare was empty and completely devoid of any emotion other then exhaustion. She climbed under the covers, "Let yourself out," she said dreamily and with a sob in her voice.

Jake stared at her form for a long time. He just didn't know what to do! She tell him she loves him and then wants him to say 'I love you too?' he could hardly tell his emotions and now he had this woman who he adored more then he cared to acknowledge telling him she felt so strongly about him.

Carefully Jake walked to her side by the bed and crouched down. She opened her closed eyes and just stared at him.

"Get out – I don't want you here!"

"That's a lie." He hissed at her. "Tell me what you want."

"All I ever wanted was someone there that understood me, completely," she said blankly and yet she blushed clearly embarrassed to be opening up about this, "and then you came along and understood me and put your life on the line for me despite all the times that I've put you in danger. And you stuck by my side when you didn't have to, you saved me and care for me. And then… you become my best friend, the only person I can turn to. I develop feelings for you, you tell me you feel strongly about me, and then reject me."

"I'm not rejecting you." He said sternly and put his hand on her head, gently stroking her hair away from her face.

"Yes you are."

He grabbed her furiously by the arm, "if I were rejecting you I wouldn't be here right now!"

"What are you doing!" She asked angrily as he climbed into the bed with his boots. "You're ruining my bed sheets!"

"Sherry, shut up." He groaned back and peeled off his jacket and tossed it on the floor. He heard a distinct hiss from one o the cats and smirked. "Come here," he grabbed for Sherry and pulled her tightly into his chest.

"Take off those boots! And unhand me! What are you doing!" She exclaimed again, but before she could complain again he had her mouth captured with his.

Her lips were still beneath his and for a few seconds he thought that she would be the one to shove him away but her hands skated to his neck and her legs wrapped around him like a cage. He could feel her heart through her chest against his and feverishly they started peeling at each others clothing, clumsily. Their fingers bumped into each other, their hands collided and the shirts became tangled as they balled them and tossed them across the room.

When he attached his mouth to her neck with a vice like grip he relished in the groan that escaped her.

"Don't do this to me," she said softly, "Please don't do this to me anymore. I can't take this."

"But you want this," Jake reminded her kindly against her ear.

"And in the morning you'll be gone…" She said softly as he claimed her lips. "Jake, take this off," she whispered softly, angry at herself, and he obeyed her with a grunt as he pulled at his belt and then at the pants. He rolled off of her and threw them across the room, she noticed he hadn't taken off the thick combat boots and his boxers were dark grey. She liked it.

"Come here," she pulled him under her and let her hands skate over the scars on his chest to which his face became usually relaxed. He shivered and held onto her hips, she winced slightly and frowned.

"What is it?" He asked her carefully.

She shook her head at him and that's when his eyes skated down to the bruise peeking from her sweats. His eyes narrowed in on it and for an instant it was all he could see but before the rage could overtake him she rolled him onto her and was tugging at his boxers and her own sweats.

When her legs parted – welcoming him kindly, he was hardly able to resist as he lowered himself so that they were touching, chest to chest and lips to lips.

Love me, she thought heatedly as his lips pecked at her jaw line, I just love you so much.

Playfully Jake nipped at her bottom lip. His eyes watched her as she stared up at him, longing for him. Gently he obliged and rolled her nipples in between his thumb and index finger. He was electrified by the way she arched beneath him, with a wicked grin that she had never seen on his face before he captured it between his teeth. Biting down softly he sighed contentedly when he tied her fingers into his hair.

"Oh God," she whispered softly into the air and drew a hard breath when he licked a trail to her collar bone where he lingered to press his mouth there carefully.

Slowly he lowered his face to her stomach. Sherry shivered as he looked up at her with his mouthwatering gaze, she knew what he was going to do and he reached to him, shaking her head, he shh'ed her softly and continued trailing down her stomach.

As soon as she felt his breath… there… her groan resonated through the room.

"Oh, J-ake!" She shrieked as his tongue delved and she tightened her grasp of his head with her thighs, tightening her grip as he watched her writing under his mouth. His tongue prodded deeply, invading her willingly body expertly and savagely, not giving her moments to catch her breath or relax, this was a full force domination that she was more than willing to be a part of.

"Harder, Jake. Please!" She pleaded with him. The teasing had gone on too long. He was using his tongue to touch her everywhere but where she needed it. When he finally relented and brought his tongue down on her- exactly where she needed it, her head fell back with a cry of ecstasy he had never imagined possible.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" He murmured around her, kissing the area where her center met her thighs.

"Yes." She responded with a firm nod and brought him back up to her.

"Fuck," he grunted when she reached between them and grabbed hold of his length, it throbbed in her hands and energetically she guided him towards her entrance. She was slick and warm. It made him tremble as he sunk into her slowly. Almost painfully. "You're so fucking wet, Cherie."

She blushed beneath him and hid her face in the neck of his neck as he pulled back and sunk into her again with gracefully and ease. Her pulled his face away and stared down at her. She swallowed as sweat beaded her forehead.

Sherry

"Jake," she whimpered as he stared to move faster. Her hands went to his hips guiding his animalistic thrusts.

Above her Jake Muller kept his eyes trained on her own, fixated on the way she gasped when he moved his hips a certain way. He bowed his head into her neck, breathing in her sweet scent. Her short hair felt like feathers against the side of his face. His hands, on her hips felt rough and calloused, strong and firm like the rest of him.

Unrelenting.

"Are you exhausted yet?" he grunted her name and wrapped his arms tightly around her. Jake was everywhere.

"No, keep going." She pleaded him wantonly with energy. "I love you…" She whispered softly and carefully to him. "I'll love you even when you don't feel anything for me at all," she felt him slow his movements and then he was speeding up again. She jerked and twisted and mewled hungrily beneath him, tying her fingers into his hair as best as she could which was not much.

The muscles of his arms rippled as he held himself up off the mattress and thrust forward with all his strength, burrowing himself deeply inside of her.

"Jake! I'm… oh!" She shuddered as an orgasm rocked her senses. Without warning he gripped her as he approached his own, she rode hers out with shakes and groans as did he.

They trembled and held each other for a long time, placing gentle kissing here and there and trying as hard as they could to hold each other comfortable before Jake relented and rolled to his side and pulled her in close.

Sherry's pants filled the room and she could only struggle to breathe, his arms were like a coffin around her making it hard to catch air, but she didn't mind, she just focused on her breathing – trying to control herself before uttering anything. But it wasn't Sherry who opened her mouth, it was Jake.

"That was amazing."

She nodded in agreement.

"And who said I didn't feel anything for you at all?" He whispered into the darkness of the room with a hint of anger. "Don't you know how much I care for you? Haven't I been here with you to help you."

"Forget I said anything, I'm sorry…" She whispered softly and pressed her lips to his neck. He shivered and held her tighter, knowing that at any moment the moment itself could be destroyed. Why won't you love me? she asked herself before finally drifting off to sleep.

Sorry for the long wait - but I had a hard time with this chapter. Finally we have them moving to another level of actually acknowledging their feelings for one another - at least Sherry is.

Sigh, so review my doves, you are my encouragement on hard days :) PLEASE review, thank you.