Chapter 18

Renée lectured me for quite a while before bed about sneaking out of the house at night, something she had convinced herself that I would not be brave enough for considering what had happened to me. She had failed to factor in my teenage hormones, apparently. That's at least what she was calling it. Not that she was really that far off. I did sneak out to see the boy I had a crush on, but we were definitely not at the stage where I needed to be warned about safety, sex ed, and the like. We weren't even past the friendship stage.

Still, there was no convincing Renée I didn't need to be absolutely humiliated like this. So now I had a box of condoms in the drawer of my nightstand and was made to promise I wouldn't go out until I at least had a new cellphone to take with me. Renée was still keeping a close eye on me anyway, and I had never felt more embarrassed in my life. I felt my cheeks flaring with heat every time I even thought about it. A part of me hoped Jacob had just gone home after I was subjected to that, but somehow I doubted he did.

Still, Renée made sure to keep me busy in the mornings with practice. Mostly she just had me studying runes, specifically defensive ones. I could tell she was worried about my safety in particular, probably more so than before now because I had snuck out.

I supposed my injuries marked everyone and myself in different ways. Renée was aggressively making sure I had all kinds ways to protect myself magically at a moment's notice, and Jacob was... hovering? I wasn't exactly sure what he was up to, but I was certain I would figure it out at the next opportunity I got to sneak off. I couldn't exactly tell Renée that a werewolf was hanging around to see me. I didn't know if she even knew about them.

"Maddie, are you even paying attention?" Renée asked with an exasperated tone. She was staring down at me with a cocked eyebrow. I grimaced slightly, staring at the obviously incorrect scribble that I had just drawn on the paper. I glanced back over at the reference and cringed even harder. It wasn't even remotely close.

"No." I admitted. It was way too obvious for me to even try to play it off. I knew I needed to memorize these, but I was pretty sure my brain was turning into goo. Plus, I couldn't stop worrying about Jacob. Did he even have somewhere he could sleep? Renée sighed.

"Alright, let's just stop here today," she said. I began picking up the leftover scraps of paper, and Renée let out another sigh before she began helping me clear away everything.

After we had cleared the kitchen together, Renée stopped me in the hall with a gentle touch on my arm.

"I understand that everyone gets a little boy crazy at your age, but just make sure you're being careful, ok?" Renée said with a small smile. I blinked in surprise.

"Okay." I answered her after a moment. She pulled a phone out of her pocket and handed it to me. I glanced down at it, and it was my same red Motorola that I'd had before my accident except that it was definitely brand new.

"I was hoping you'd stay inside for a little while longer so I wouldn't have to worry about you too much, but I also know that telling you to stay home doesn't mean you will. So just don't be afraid to call if you need me." Renée patted my hand gently as she said this, and I honestly didn't really know what to say to her.

"I will. Thank you." I said, hoping it was enough. Renée smiled at me, looking older than I remembered in my memories. There were a few more wrinkles on her face and streaks of gray in her hair that I didn't remember being there before.

"I love you, pumpkin," she said, giving me a pinch on the cheek. I chuckled at the nickname.

"I love you too." Renée walked back to her room then, probably to get changed to go to the beach again, and I waited a moment before padding to my own. I technically had permission now, so I could go looking for Jacob right that second, but I decided to be a little more prudent this time. I found a tote bag, tucking my wallet and phone into it, some food because I felt certain Jacob hadn't been eating regularly enough with all that travel, and I put a more practical pair of sandals on this time because all that walking last night had given me an awful blister, and I did not want another one.

I cracked my window, and then went out the front door like a normal person, yelling my goodbyes to my mom as I did. I didn't hear her reply, but I figured this was what she expected when she gave me the phone. What she hadn't realized was that I had been trying to figure out how I was going to sneak out as soon as she wasn't watching over me.

I squinted my eyes in response to the bright afternoon sun. I wandered out away from the beach, assuming Jacob would probably be lurking in the nearby copse of trees rather than just hanging out by the water. After all that was what he'd been doing the night before. I waded through the tall, yellow grass that quickly became taller than me and called out softly for him.

I was surprised when a dark brown nose poked through the grass to sniff at me. I gave a small laugh as his nose bumped me in the shoulder gently. I hadn't really been all that close to him in wolf form before, but he was huge. He nudged at me, urging me along further into the forest where the trees grew a little more tightly together and the air felt a few degrees cooler.

A few seconds later he had shifted back and his skin was glistening with sweat. I pulled out a water bottle, pressing it to the side of his face with a look of concern.

"Are you ok out here?" I asked him, unable to hide the note of concern in my voice, "We could probably sneak you into my room for some air conditioning while my mom is out."

"It's just," Jacob huffed uncomfortably, "very hot." I nodded my head in agreement. It was definitely very warm outside to me too. Slowly, it began to dawn on me. I remembered how comfortable he'd been when it was cold out, and my mouth fell open into a soft "oh".

"C'mon, you can't stay out here," I said, letting him take over holding the frozen water bottle to himself. I helped him up to his feet, and luckily the house was rather close by because I wasn't sure how many people I wanted to see me dragging around a half-delirious man that was over a foot taller than me.

"Can you hear anyone inside?" I asked when we finally got close. Jacob blinked, furrowing his eyebrows as he focused to listen.

"All clear," he said after a moment. I breathed a sigh of relief that I wouldn't have to get him to squeeze in through the bedroom window. We entered in the front door, and I helped into my bedroom and into a chair. I quickly closed the window and drew the curtains and pulled the closet open slightly in case he needed to hide at some point, though I hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"I'll be right back." I told him, setting the tote back down. I wanted to go get him something cold to drink that would give him some electrolytes and grab the fan that Renée had told me I could use if it got too hot in my room at night. Once I had both things and was back into the room, I saw that Jacob was already looking a little better and lucid.

"Hey there," I said as I shut the door behind me. I held the lemonade out to him, "Drink this." Jacob took it with a grateful look, and I quickly moved to set up the small, box fan.

"Thanks." He spoke after the fan was running. It wasn't the quietest thing, but it definitely seemed to be livening Jacob up even more. I plopped into the chair at my desk rolling it a little closer to him.

"You feeling better?" I asked, leaning my head against my knees once I had curled up comfortably in the chair. He nodded.

"Much."

"Good enough to maybe eat something? If you're hungry?" I glanced over at the tote bag that was resting by my bed now. He grimaced slightly.

"Definitely not yet." Jacob answered, looking more than a little nauseous at the thought.

"Ok, no problem." I replied, settling into my chair as Jacob closed his eyes against the artificial breeze once more. As I watched him, I became more certain that I needed to send him home and soon. I was safe here as he had now confirmed for himself, I was certain, and so he needed to go home where the heat wasn't going to send him to the ER.

I flipped through one of the books my mom wanted me to read to keep myself from watching him too intensely. Jacob definitely seemed to be feeling much better now that he wasn't sitting outside in the heat, but unfortunately he could not stay here indefinitely. I glanced up at him after a few minutes, and his eyes were still closed. Unable to resist the temptation, I reached up and gently touched his forehead with one hand. He was very warm too the touch, but I was also pretty sure he usually was.

"How warm are you normally?" I asked him, not moving my hand when he turned his head slightly to lean into it, likely chasing the coolness of it.

"Around a 100 to 102 is pretty normal." He answered after a moment. He definitely still seemed to be a bit out of it, and my arm was starting to get tired from holding it up. I was also pretty sure I was not going to be able to tell if he had a fever at all. I bit my lip lightly in thought. Was I going to have some weird biology stuff now that I wasn't human too? Or, well, now that my humanity had passed quietly into that good night?

"Do you feel feverish?" I asked, still definitely worrying over him much more than I probably really needed to be. Jacob looked a lot better than he did before, and the afternoons were almost always sweltering here with the sand, sun and water all working in tandem to dry you out into a chip.

"I'm fine, Maddie," Jacob said with a chuckle, grabbing my hand off of his forehead. I stared at him like I didn't quite believe him, which I didn't. I was very suspicious of his well being.

"You should go home." I told him, suddenly feeling very serious. "You shouldn't even be here. My mom gave me a phone so you can at least call Billy before you go." I stretched a leg out to pull my bag over since Jacob had confiscated my hand.

"I can't go back yet," Jacob said, freezing me in place. I slowly looked at him with wide eyes.

"What do you mean you can't go back? You said I wasn't in any danger."

Jacob's dark eyes flicked away from me with a furrowed brow and a slight frown set into his face. Was this a more complicated question than I realized?

"I'm fine, Jake." I insisted instead, assuming he hadn't lied to me before when he said that I was safe here in Florida. Jacob looked at me with soft eyes, and I could tell he was maybe three steps away from giving me the most pleading expression he could muster on his altogether way too handsome face.

"I'm worried about you." He replied, by way of refusing my attempt to get him to go back to Forks. I wondered how long it had taken him to get here while at the same time trying my best to figure out how to get him to go back.

"I'll be back in Forks soon," I said suddenly as I remembered that Bella was getting married soon. I sat up in my chair looking at him cheerily.

"Bella will be here next month, and then about a week after that my mom, her and me will be flying back together for the wedding. I'll be fine until then, ok? People are probably worried about you, and you definitely don't have anywhere to stay here. So, go home."

Jacob looked unconvinced, and I tried to hold back the aggrieved sigh that was threatening to spill out of me. He held my hand in his, glancing down at our joined hands for a moment and then back up to my face.

"I don't want to."

I simply couldn't help the frustrated noise that came out of me.

"Well, let's at least call Billy first," I said, grabbing my tote bag off of the floor and whipping out my shiny new phone. It hadn't made a single call yet. I held it out to him expectantly. Jacob only hesitated for a moment before taking it.

More chapter dumping. Idk. I'm hoping to finish writing ch21 today, but it's proving a bit challenging lmao.

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