“Bye, Jake.”
Jake flipped his cell close and chuckled. He could imagine the look on Bella’s face, trying to glare her way out of her embarrassment but only manage on looking deliciously sulky.
“Was that Bella?” A female voice intruded his reverie.
“Of course it was Bella. Did you hear how low his voice was? The male animal showing his interest upon his intended mate...”
“You really have to lay off Animal Planet. Seriously. Like, immediately.”
Resigned, Jacob turned to see both Mercy and Caleb, both with their trademark expressions that was especially designed to aggravate the other; Mercy with her disgusted ‘I-only-hang-out-with-you-because-of-pity-and-your-mom-asked-my-mom-so-I’m-stuck-with-you’ look and Caleb with his I-know-you-love-me-for-my-outstanding-charm-and-devilish-grin-so-you-might-as-well-give-up-you’re-stuck-with-me look.
“Aren’t you guys supposed to be in school?”
“And yet, here we are.” Caleb hooked an arm around Mercy’s neck the way guys do to their brothers and other male siblings and grunted when she nudged him in the ribs. “It’s a conundrum.”
Jacob stared. “Both of you. School.”
Caleb snorted. “Like you’ve never cut class before. Don’t you think you’re acting a little hypocritical considering the tales that are still told in the great halls of Quileute high? ”
Since he had his back to them, Jacob’s mouth widened to a grin. After all, must not encourage the kiddies. “Those tales are mostly exaggerated.
Caleb perked up. “When you say mostly, which one do you mean?”
Jacob tossed them a look from over his shoulder and lifted a saw.
Caleb lifted both his hand in a placating gesture. “Hey, no need to get hostile. A simple no comment would suffice.”
“Although, when you think about it the act of saying no comment itself is a comment.” Mercy mused.
“Good point, my pithy friend.” Caleb pursed his lips at the look that Mercy gave him. “No? Cooly sardonic? Enigmatic?” He clapped a hand on her shoulder and left them with a wave. “We’ll think on the correct way for me to describe you later.”
“Relax, Jake. It’s lunch break.” Mercy eyed the block of wood he was sawing.
“And you came here? Really? Don’t you guys have any other place to hang out? The library, maybe?”
Mercy snorted. “The library, Jake?”
“I’m a grown up. I have to be boring and staid. It’s law.”
Mercy smiled. “If that’s a requirement then you’ve failed miserably.”
“Yeah?” He couldn’t help but sound please.
“Crash and burn.”
He smirked. “Mercy, are you coming on to me?”
Mercy flicked a wood chip at him.
“So, was that Bella?”
“If you must know, yes, it’s her. Hold that end for me, will you?”
Mercy stepped to the end of the block, threw her right leg over it and sat on it. “She hasn’t been around much.” She commented, her dark eyes focusing on his face as he worked on the block, making sure that he took his time and showed some effort.
“She does have her own business, you know.”
“You’ve been around too much.”
His arm continued moving back and forth. “I do have my own business, you know.”
“Why her, Jake?”
“Why not her?”
“Is it a ‘the one that got away’ or a simple ‘first love’ thing?”
Irritation started to surface in Jacob so he sawed harder, hoping the loud grating sound would discourage her but this was Mercy, she merely talked over the sound.
“Or is it a ‘one I haven’t bang’ –“
The short end of the wood fell to the ground with a dull thump. “Mercy.” His tone was firm and not unlike Billy’s tone when he did something out of line. Mercy closed her mouth but gave him a rebellious look. He picked up the wood block and put it on the top of the stack at his elbow. “Just tell me what you really want to talk to me about.”
The rebellious look took on a resentful edge which changed into a wary acceptence. She slid a look to where Caleb was carting a flatbed and goofing off with Embry. Jacob followed her look and irritation gave way into understanding.
“Did he get into a fight again?”
“No, but he’s been way too edgy and Kalua just keeps provoking him. I figure I’ll seperate them as much as I can.”
Jacob picked up the saw again. “Good idea.”
Mercy got off the wood, slid it over the table and held down her end, her fingers moving restlessly.
“Is there more?”
She heaved a disgruntle breath. “You know I hate this, right. I hate...tattling.”
“Sometimes keeping quiet does more harm than good.”
Mercy grimaced as if what she was going to say tasted bad in her mouth. Maybe it did. “It’s getting worse, the fights between Kalua and Caleb. It used to be this macho, petty, mine is bigger than yours situation but now it’s...the last time they fought I swear I thought they were going to kill each other. Caleb tries to ignore him but Kalua just keeps ragging on him—“ She sighed. “Caleb’s not stupid, he doesn’t want to blow his chances for a scholarship but Kalua just drives him crazy.”
Jacob kept his face bland although inside he was pretty worried. “Family can do that.”
The sound she made was extremely cynical. “Family. Yeah, that’s the best word to describe Kalua and Caleb. They share a father, that’s all. You guys are more family to Caleb then he ever will.”
“He also has you.”
He saw her shrug and kept on sawing for a minute before he caught the truly miserable expression on her face. Mercy was a pain in the ass but she was loyal to a fault and loyalty was something Jacob knew well about, as was the concept of family.
“Caleb can take care of himself.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Her eyes closed before looking into his; they were big and troubled. “Jake, I’m scared.”
He kept his eyes on hers then straighten, for Mercy to admit that, the situation between Caleb and Kalua must be worse than what he was hearing. “What do you want me to do, exactly?”
“Talk to Kalua. Warm him off, I don’t care.”
Mercy hung around guys more than she hung around girls but they were just some simple male machinations that she could’t quite grasp no matter how much she tried. “That’ll only make things worse and doing that won’t make it any easier on Caleb’s pride.”
“To hell with his pride—“
He sighed. “You know better than that, Merce. Sometimes pride is all that you have and Caleb has a lot of it. It was pride that made him ask for odd jobs around the rez in return for payment so he could help his mother out when he was eight. It was pride that made him refuse the council’s offer for help when his mother was sick, choosing to work at the store instead when he was eleven.”
She waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. “I’m not kidding, Jake. Sooner or later, they’ll kill each other. At the very least, hurt each other badly.”
“Kalua knows exactly where his limits are and Caleb is too smart to let Kalua get to him.”
Her black eyes flashed. “You didn’t see them today. I did.”
Jacob’s eyes narrowed on her face, weighing her expression. “Good point.” He looked past her face to Caleb who was now passing a nail gun to Quil. “We’ll keep watch.”
Mercy could feel the coiled tension in her stomach melt away, she knew enough to trust Jacob on his word. She watched him saw for a while before opening her mouth.
“So, why her, Jake?”
Jacob sent her a frustrated look which she met without flinching. “If I answer this one question will you lay off this topic forever?” He frowned at her. “Why this sudden interest anyway? You’ve never cared about any of my...girl friends before.”
She shrugged. “They don’t really matter to you.” She rolled her eyes when he frowned. “I don’t mean that you don’t care for them, it’s just that in the whole great scheme of things, they don’t matter. Bella does.”
“And that’s bad because...”
“It’s not bad, it’s just...why her?”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing. She’s just so...ordinary.”
Jacob grinned. “You make that sound like a bad thing.”
“And she’s not Quileute.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You’re basically our chief and you’re dating an outsider.”
Mercy tried not to squirm under Jacob’s bland stare.
“I never took you for a traditionalist, Merce. So, you’re worried that I’m dating a white woman?”
“You can’t convince me that that won’t matter to the council.” She gritted her teeth when Jacob only kept staring at her. “Or are you telling me that you’re not seeing that far ahead, that you’re not serious with her?”
Jacob put the saw down on the make shift working table and wiped the saw dust on his jeans. “No, I’m not saying that.”
“So, they’re going to be changes, Jake. They’re going to be some serious discussions. Who you take to wife doesn’t just affect yourself, it’ll affect the whole tribe.”
“You’re exaggerating things, Merce.”
“No, I’m not.”
No, Jacob knew she wasn’t. He’d heard the gossip, the talk of him and Bella and ignored it. He was exasperated by the whole thing but he knew how his people work. Billy wasn’t saying anything but he knew people have approached him with questions that were brought up carefully since, Bella is after all Charlie’s daughter; a man that they respect as both the town law and friend to the tribe. And it took a very, very brave and somewhat psychotic person to anger Billy.
He kept his eyes on his hands while he mulled his answers, he considered one lie after another but decided on honesty instead. “You want to know why it has to be her?”
She straightened, her eyes alert and watchful. “Yes.”
“I love her.” The answer was something he stumbled upon one midnight when he was unable to sleep, his mind filled to bursting with her so when Jacob lifted his eyes from his hands to meet Mercy’s; they were deep, steady and heartbreakingly sure. “I loved her when I was sixteen and every year since then. It doesn’t matter where she is or who she’s with or whether she love me back or not.” He shrugged. “I love her.”
He cocked his head to the side when she remained quiet. “No comment?”
“That necklace. It’s one of my grandmother’s right?”
Jacob blinked at the change of subject but nodded anyway.
“She told me that Bella bought it for you. Chose it for you.”
He couldn’t quite make out the thoughtful expression on her face. “Yeah.” He drawled, stretching out the vowels, still unsure about her attention. One can’t be too careful when it comes to women, eventhough they were still sixteen.
“Do you know what it means?”
“It’s a necklace.”
Mercy didn’t rolled her eyes but it was close. “It’s one of my grandma’s necklace, of course it means something.”
He shrugged. “It’s pretty. She liked it.”
“Then she would buy it for herself and not for you.”
“Is there a point to this conversation?”
Warily, Jacob eyed Mercy when she lifted a hand and pulled the necklace from out of his T shirt. She ran a finger on the stones like it was worth more than what it cost. “Onyx, Obsidian, Carnelian, a line of strong stones tied in a warrior’s knot. Onyx is used for tempering emotions, to bring calmness and peace to its owner. People believe that it also helps you on controlling your own fate and help out with excess energy. Obsidian is a grounding stone, it helps you focus and again, steady your temper and emotions. The middle stone, Carnelian is a stone that protects from rages and anger, it also helps to channel out sorrow and sadness, either than for increasing physical energy, it also has healing properties like in to stop bleeding and heals sickness.” She took her hand from the necklace. “Not that I believe what grandma believes but it’s the thought that counts. It’s a necklace made of blessings and wishes for safety and when combined with a warrior knot it’s more of an amulet rather than jewelry. It speaks of great affection and love. It’s what a woman gives to a lover who lives in dangerous times; a soldier, a warrior.” She raised her eyes from the necklace and latched onto his face. “I’d asked whether she loves you back or not but I think I already know the answer.”
Jacob blinked, suddenly conscious of the weight around his neck, comforting and warm. “She picked it cause it matches my coloring.”
The look that Mercy spared gave him an impression of an ancient knowledge that was female in tone and degrading to his sex. “You don’t think my grandma explained to her about what it was?”
“I was with her when she bought it, she didn’t say anything.”
“Why should she?”
Speechless, Jacob merely blinked at her.
“So, Jake.” Caleb ambled amiably to them and again, hooked an arm around Mercy’s shoulders. “Has she asked you how to repent her sins?”
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