Jacob returned to the cabin late in the morning.
It was an overcast day in Hope County. Behind the gunmetal clouds, Jacob could see the sun was trying to burn through, but it was having little success. There was a slight dampness in the air that told him there would be some rain at some point during the day, but he wasn't sure how much. Jacob parked his truck beside Katie's car and killed the ignition. He made no immediate move to get out, instead sitting behind the steering wheel, hands at ten and two, staring blankly at the unassuming cabin in front of him. From where he was sitting, it didn't look like there was any sign of life inside the cabin.
He felt like an idiot. Last night, for the first time since Joseph and John had found him huddled and delirious in that cramped little homeless shelter, Jacob had allowed himself to be weak. For whatever reason, Katie made him that way, and the awareness of that fact made him deeply uncomfortable. Remembering the way he'd quickly got up and left, desperate to put as much space between himself and Katie as he could, made the skin of his neck and cheeks burn red-hot.
Katie had always been good to him. Too good, if he had to be honest with himself. Even now, with all the knowledge in front of her that the Seed boys were rotten to the core, she still showed Jacob a kindness he knew he didn't deserve.
Clearly, he made her weak, too. A dangerous mix.
All the more reason to make the break now.
He'd spent most of his night walking the grounds of St. Francis, wrestling with the heavy and hollow feelings pushing down on his guts. It was time, he knew, for Katherine Wakefield to get back in her car and go back where she belonged. Ever since he'd laid eyes on her at the Grandview, he'd allowed her to lead him away from the plot, and if he didn't act quickly, he'd stray too far. He'd let her cloud his judgment and distract him, and while he honestly didn't mind all that much — he'd never admit that — her presence in Hope County was proving to be too detrimental to everything he knew and loved.
Of course, Faith was going to be upset that plans were about to change. But now that they'd acted on the weird feelings between them, Jacob needed Katie gone, pronto, back in her car and out of the county before the sun goes down.
"Time to pull off the Band-Aid," Jacob grumbled to himself. Stepping out of the truck, he shut the door behind him and made his way towards the cabin. He stood on the other side of the door for a few moments, steeling himself for what he was about to do on the other side. Jacob didn't know why he was allowing this to bother him. The thought that this was going to be the last time he ever saw her again lingered at the back of his mind, and he did his best to ignore it. In a matter of months, she'd be dead when the bombs dropped, and the sooner he created distance, the easier it would be.
He'd expected to find her sitting on the sofa, right where he'd left her the night before. He couldn't hide his surprise at the quiet, empty living room in front of him. At some point, she'd folded the blanket and slung it back over the couch. Looking straight ahead, through the open door to his bedroom, he could see her lying on top of the blankets, her back to him, clearly asleep. Jacob's lips pursed into a thin line as he shut the door quietly behind him. If he had to guess, she'd waited up for him as long as she could before her natural need to rest took over.
Part of him wanted to rouse her roughly and shove her out the front door as quickly as he could, but he overruled the voice in his head, reasoning that she needed to rest before making the long trip back.
It certainly wasn't because he needed more time to prepare himself for what was about to happen.
It wasn't that at all.
Jacob quietly made his way to the kitchen to fix himself a cup of coffee. While he waited for the water to boil he leaned against the counter, fingertips drumming on the pocket of his jeans while he stared at the world of gray on the other side of the kitchen window. The pills he was holding onto felt like he was holding onto an explosive.
Christ.
Jacob didn't know what he'd do without Clayton Holmes and his seemingly unconditional friendship. Ever since arriving in Hope County, Clayton had done everything in his power to help Jacob out whenever he needed something. If it weren't for Clayton co-signing him at St. Francis, Jacob didn't think he would have been able to integrate himself as well as he had. Jacob wasn't exactly a people person, and he knew and accepted that. Clayton did some of the heavy lifting for him. People liked Clayton. He was personable and kind, always greeting the people around him with a smile and a handshake.
After their talk in the back area of St. Francis, Jacob knew Clayton would take his time leaving. Clayton always dawdled, just in case Jacob changed his mind and needed something. More often than not, Clayton's instincts were right. Hand on the back of his neck, blue eyes on the ground, Jacob had grumbled to his friend and confidante that there could be some trouble, and he needed a pill to fix things. It had taken Clayton a few moments to understand just what Jacob had meant. Bless his soul, Clayton had only smiled and promised Jacob that he'd run to the pharmacy when it opened in the morning. Jacob mumbled that he intended to spend the night at St. Francis, so he could just drop it there.
Before he'd climbed into his truck, Clayton had clapped a comforting hand on Jacob's shoulder.
"You're the best brother a man can ask for, Jacob. I hope your brother knows that."
Confused, Jacob had stepped back, his eyes narrowed as Clayton got into the truck and took off into the night. It was only after the nervousness of having to ask for such a favor wore off that Jacob realized that Clayton had misread the situation entirely. Jacob could only clap a hand over his face and let out an exasperated, mortified grunt.
Of course Clayton would think the pills were for John. The situation definitely read like a John Seed issue.
Armed with his cup of coffee, Jacob took the pills out of his pocket and dropped them onto the kitchen table before he sat down. He sipped from his mug, unable to take his eyes off them.
Jacob wasn't sure how much time passed before he heard movement coming from his bedroom, but it was a while. At the table, Jacob did his best to seem nonreactive to everything around him.
Katie didn't come to the kitchen right away. On the other side of the arch, he was sure he could hear her quietly sigh at the empty space in front of her. A moment or two later, he heard the bathroom door shut, and he knew that she was preparing for a day that wasn't going to go forward according to plans.
Looking down at the black coffee in his mug, Jacob shook his head. She never should have come to Hope County, and he never should have brought her here.
Of course, Jacob told her that. He always told her when things were a bad idea, but she never listened. Katie was a woman who always had to forge her own path, always had to find things out for herself, for better or for worse.
She entered the kitchen, looking a little better than she had when he'd left her. There was a little more color in her face. Her hair was pulled back into a tight, sleek ponytail. Jacob noted she was in the same clothing he'd rescued her in, the tight black T-shirt stretched so tight over her bosom that her black bra was visible. Jacob averted his gaze back to his coffee. For whatever reason, it felt easier than looking her in the eyes.
Feeling the cool shift in the air, Katie crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at her feet. The silence stretched long between them, thick and cloying. Jacob thought about saying something, but Katie was the first to break the silence.
"Been here long?"
"Long enough."
"I guess we should probably talk about last night."
"Yeah. I, uh, got it covered. I got you those…" He motioned to the pills. His face felt red, and he was sure Katie could notice it, but she said nothing. Approaching the table slowly, Katie picked up the package, eyes scanning. It took her a few seconds to register just what she was looking at. When it all clicked, Katie looked at Jacob wide-eyed.
"Oh. No. No, no. I can't…I've got a…" Shutting her eyes, Katie let out a short, sharp breath, her shoulders sloping. Dropping the pills back onto the table, she shook her head. "You don't need to worry about that."
His eyes snapped up to her, and if the room didn't feel so cold, Katie would have giggled at the gobsmacked expression on Jacob's face.
"I don't?"
"No. I won't be back here with a mini you in the future, I promise."
Jacob put his head in his hand. He believed her, of course. But the realization he'd thrown down his dignity and asked Clayton for such a favor for nothing made him feel dumber than he ever thought was possible.
That embarrassment and shame made what he needed to do much easier, however.
Katie examined him, slightly concerned. "Jacob…"
"It's time for you to leave." It was on the tip of his tongue to call her Kates, but Jacob was eternally grateful that he'd somehow managed to catch himself. This break had to be impersonal. Quick, clean, and impersonal.
Katie blinked. "Excuse me?"
"You've overstayed your welcome. It's time for you to go."
"You know I can't do that yet, Jacob. Not until I talk to…"
"You're not going to. You're not going to get close to them ever again," Jacob told her bluntly. He rose. The coldness that radiated from him, the ice that glimmered in his eyes had Katie falling back a step. He took in her bewildered expression. "What? You think fucking me on my couch last night made me forget you're trying to take my family from me?"
In her confusion, a flare of indignation rose in Katie's chest. "Excuse me?"
"You will not take my brothers from me, Kate. I won't allow it."
"And the families your brothers have taken from?" Katie asked. "You think Brittany Everett's family deserved to have her taken from them? John's a fucking monster, Jacob, and you protect it."
"You think my hands are any cleaner, Kate?" he snarled back at her. "You've always had some twisted little fantasy in your head about me, like I'm some kind of saint, but you're dead fucking wrong. You think I'm a hero, Kate? You think my brothers are monsters? You're in for a fucking surprise because I'm the biggest monster of all of us.
"The rose-colored glasses you wear don't mean dick, Kate. You don't know me, you don't know what I'm capable of, and yet, here you are, pushing.
"You never should have come here, and you know it, but you're weak. Couldn't say no to a friend, even if it almost gets you killed."
"Weak? You think I'm weak?" As hard as she was trying to stay calm, Katie was aghast at the sudden shift in Jacob. She hated that he was expertly pushing her buttons, but she could see that she'd successfully hit a few of her own. Katie shook her head. "Fuck you, Jacob."
"That's the best you got?" he taunted.
"If I'm weak, what does that make you, Jacob?"
"I'm strong, Kate. Always have been."
"How strong you looked last night, running out of here with your tail between your legs."
"Fuck you." Katie snorted.
"That the best you got? How strong were you, saving my life the other night?"
"We all make mistakes. You should know that better than anyone." Jacob rolled his eyes. "You think things changed because we fucked, Kate? It meant nothing. You mean nothing."
Katie opened her mouth to retort, but she clamped it shut. Her eyes welled with tears, burning with a fury that made Jacob's heart swell and sting in equal measure. That was the look he needed to see. This was the anger, disgust, and revulsion he'd been craving since the night before, when she'd clung to him so tightly, when she'd burrowed her head into him and wept…
No.
He couldn't think about that now.
"I could send the authorities for John," she told him quietly. Jacob shrugged.
"No body, no evidence, no case, and you know it. Do what you gotta do, though. I'll do the same."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Whatever you want it to mean, Kate." He reached into the pocket for his keys. "You're going to do what you're going to do, but if you know what's good for you, Kate, you won't be here when I get back."
"And if I am?"
Jacob looked at her, startled. He really looked at her. It was small and subtle, but he could feel her fear, hidden behind the tough veneer she'd honed over the years in her career. He could see it in the small shake of her hands, in her glistening hazel eyes. Jacob was surprised the tears weren't falling. He chalked that up to pride.
"For once in your life, be smart. Doesn't matter to me much, but it seems like there might be some people back home who would miss you."
He walked past her, bumping her shoulder and knocking her back a step for added effect. Katie slowly followed after him, watching him as he stomped towards the front door. Opening the door, he stopped in the doorway, but never turned back to look at her. "Kate?"
She didn't answer, but he knew she was hearing him, loud and clear.
"When you're gone from here…don't ever come back."
Then, he was gone, slamming the door behind him for an added fright. Katie jumped at the noise. Out the window, she saw him, stomping to the truck without glancing over his shoulder once. She watched the truck roar to life and watched him leave, tires squealing on the way out.
Staring at the door, Katie chewed on her lower lip as she thought about her next steps. The tears burned behind her eyes, but nothing was spilling yet. She supposed she should count her lucky stars she didn't break down in front of him and earn that title of weak. A victory was a victory, wherever she could get it. She took a deep, shaking breath, a hand running through her hair as she tried to figure out just where things had shifted so quickly between them.
Maybe it had everything to do with the night before. Not just the sex, but where he'd gone after. If she had to guess, he'd run to Seed Ranch and spent the night with John and Joseph — and maybe Faith — and let them fill his head with all the venom he'd just spewed at her. It wasn't long before dawn when she'd finally fallen asleep, waiting for him to come back, so he'd clearly chosen to spend the night somewhere else. Where else did he have a bed? Seed Ranch made the most sense to her.
She thought about defying him, like always, packing up her things and finding another hotel in the county, but her experience at the Grandview left her leery. Jacob had mentioned the Seed brothers had a lot of pull in the county, John included, and all the dots she was connecting told her that Jacob withdrawing his protection meant she could be in very real danger if she stuck around. The locals were leery, hostile, and afraid of this church Joseph led; his followers weren't above beating religious competitors to a bloody pulp. John being able to sweet-talk his way into her location also told her Jacob wasn't lying; the Seeds had some kind of grip on the county.
Everything felt like a mess. While she'd come to Hope County with the best of intentions, she supposed that Jacob was right in his assessment that she'd made a mistake making the trip. She had no real answers to any of Alicia's questions, only vague conclusions she could draw from whatever she could infer.
Worse, Jacob was right, and she knew it. No evidence, no body, no case.
The thought of John Seed getting away with murder made her sick.
Katie had no idea what she was going to tell Alicia, but she supposed she had the trip back to figure it out. If she left now, like Jacob wanted, she'd have a couple days to resettle back at home and figure things out before she resumed life in Memphis.
Retreating into the bedroom, Katie picked up her suitcase from the bedroom floor and placed it on the bed, making the quick rounds around the cabin to make sure she had all of her belongings. She wasn't sure how long Jacob was intending to be gone for, but the threat in his voice told her that he wasn't in the mood for games. She had more questions than answers at the moment, and while she wanted to keep pushing, she knew getting killed wasn't going to solve anything. She'd have to head home and continue finding out what she could from there, if Alicia wanted her to keep digging. Katie wasn't sure there was much else she could do.
As she crammed the last of her things into the suitcase, her eyes fell on the white book on the bed. Joseph's Word. At Faith's recommendation, in hopes of learning something, anything, Katie had started reading it, but she'd fallen asleep towards the end. Against her better judgment, Katie grabbed the book and dropped it into her bag, zipping it shut. She doubted Jacob was going to miss it, and it wasn't like Joseph didn't have thousands of copies, she surmised. This was their Bible, after all.
Zipping her suitcase shut, she brought it out of the room, leaning it against the door while she slipped her shoes on.
Something tugged at her chest. She hated to part like this, even in the face of everything she'd seen, heard, and survived. Sitting on his couch for the last time, her hands explored the table until she found a pack of post it notes and a pen. She quickly scrawled him a message, sticking it to the front of his book before she rose, taking one last look at his cabin before she let herself out.
She loaded her bag into the trunk and closed it, taking one last look at the cabin before she slipped into the driver's seat and began making her way to the main road. Tensions between Kyrat and America were reaching new heights, as were the tensions between the United States, Russia, and China. In the coming months, there were talks scheduled, but Katie wasn't sure how that was going to play out with anybody. It was something she knew they would be monitoring closely at the station.
Driving along the main road, Katie wished she had a little more time to take in the beauty of the Whitetail Mountains. Now that she was an enemy of the Project, she guessed her winter excursion was officially off the table.
As she made her way towards Holland Valley, back down the main stretch that would take her past the Spread Eagle and out towards Missoula, Katie felt that heavy, ominous feeling push her heart down into her stomach. Katie wasn't sure what her next moves were going to be, but she knew something was rotten in Hope County, and as hard as it was for her to acknowledge, the source of the stench was the Seed family. All three of them.
Against everything, she was worried for Jacob. She was worried about the roads his brothers would lead him down, all in their twisted definition of love and family.
It was only a few clicks outside Hope County, just past the mileage sign that told her she was a few hours out from Missoula, that Katie was surprised at the feeling of hot tears zigzagging down her cheeks. Pulling over to the side of the road, her vision quickly blurred with tears, and she slung her hands over the steering wheel and let herself cry.
She wept for the children they'd been back in Rome, for the violence all three Seed boys had suffered, for years without intervention. She cried for the damaged men they'd become, and for the impending disaster that was going to bring down on Hope County. Katie sobbed for herself, allowing herself to finally feel the full shock and despair at the fact that she'd faced death on this trip, and she hitched and shuddered and cried at the cold words Jacob had spoken to her.
Katie didn't know how long she sat on the side of the road crying for, but she could count on one hand the number of cars that drove by her. After a while, she looked in her rearview mirror, at the swollen, reddened, bloodshot eyes staring back at her, and she pieced herself back together. Some eighties pop, some gas station beef jerky, and a coffee as big as her butt, and Katie was sure she'd be okay.
Restarting her car, Katie changed the radio station to some actual music and got onto the main road, leaving Hope County behind her for good.