There is nothing more annoying than interruptions. At least that’s what Jacob had always believed. He favors order and organization, and though he’d never admit it, he has always been a bit of a control freak. Order means everything has its place and purpose. Nothing random or unexpected ever meant anything good and today was no different. He had been trying to get a few things together for a herald meeting when he heard it. A faint thumping at his front door. It almost sounded like knocking. The only problem was that nobody knew about his secret hideaway in the woods.
Jacob ignores it initially thinking it's just some stupid animal banging at his cabin door trying to gain entry for food. Wouldn’t be the first or last time a bear got too friendly. Nevertheless, the thuds continued.
“Jesus H Christ.” Jacob says with an exasperated grumble as he stomps towards the door, pistol drawn.
“If I have to scrape another damn skunk off my porch, I’m going to burn this place to the- “whipping the door open he almost pulls the trigger when the thudding in questions turns into none other than the deputy.
“Holy shit! Why do you have a gun out!?” The deputy shouts as she falls back in a panic trying to gain distance from not only the firearm, but the man that stood before her.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Jacob lowers his gun only slightly, still assessing the situation.
“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” The deputy stumbles to her feet and tries to regain her balance and act unfazed. “I thought you only brooded and doom and gloomed around your lovely little hospital.”
Jacob stares at her puzzled as to why she’s not shooting him on sight. “I stay here from time to time. What I want to know is how you found me before I shoot you.”
The deputy puts her hands up in surrender “I wasn’t lookin’ for you if that’s what you’re askin’” Her arms swing down, and she stumbles slightly backwards.
“Are you drunk?” For the first time since opening the door Jacob looks her over and then takes a deep breath in before shooting her a glare that could melt ice. “Where are your pants?”
She looks herself over and chuckles “oh yeah! Those. Those are somewhere in the lake on a fishing trip. To answer your question, drunk? No. Mildly concussed? Absolutely.” She takes the opportunity to use Jacob’s confusion against him and shoves her way past him into the small cabin.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Get out.” He swings around to try and scold the small and unsteady woman before him only to be met with her pleading gaze.
“Just for a night? I haven’t slept in days, and I keep getting chased by those stupid wolverines. I’ll be out of your hair first thing, and you can keep chasing me after. Please?”
He knew he should say no, or even use the opportunity to capture her. He had her right in front of him. It would be so easy to just grab her and take her with him.
“One night.” He runs a hand down his face knowing this could only end horribly. “You can sleep here, on the couch, for one night. You better be gone before sunrise. Understood?”
Deputy smiles and nods rapidly before clutching her head and almost loosing balance. Jacob, out of reflex, rushes to stand her up straight. Realizing what he’s done he lets go of her shoulders and steps back hoping she didn’t notice.
“I had a meeting to go to but since I don’t trust you, I guess I'll be staying here.” He huffs and saunters back over to his desk, taking a seat and beginning to write.
“Stuff. Go to the dresser in the other room and find a pair of pants for fucks sake. You’re not a child.” Through gritted teeth Jacobs tries to ignore her presence but its next to impossible. He’s wanted her to find him here for months. Even toyed with the idea of setting up some sort of ploy to lead her to him.
“Is this better, ginger Hitler?”
He sighs and closes his eyes ready to yell at her but when he opens them and looks up, she’s in front of him, standing pigeon footed and timid, wearing his clothes. She’d changed her shirt too. “That’s fine...” he clears his throat in an attempt to sound less distracted. “Now, can you please, for the love of everything holy and righteous, leave me alone.”
She crosses her arms and slumps down on the couch. Silence washes over the cabin for what feels like an eternity. She throws her legs over the arm of the couch and lays back listening to the quiet sound of Jacobs writing and the flipping of pages. She knew she should just keep quiet, but she couldn’t. it was becoming painful.
“Why are you helping me? I mean you hate my living, breathing guts.” With a grunt she sits up and crosses her legs, leaning over the arm now.
“What?” Jacob looks at her, confused and wanting nothing more than to tell her the truth. She’d think he was off his meds if he told her. “You have a concussion and I’m not supposed to let you die because joseph thinks he needs you or something.”
She watches as he quickly looks back to his papers, fumbling with the pencil in his hand. “Yeah, because it would be so hard to grab me and take me to one of your lovely five-star cages. That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
He sets the pencil down and rises abruptly from his desk before stalking over to her, leaning on the wall across from her. “Then indulge me oh wise deputy, what did you mean?” He looks at her trying to conceal the hope he feels.
“You know what?” She says, getting off the couch and striding to the small kitchen to retrieve a glass of water. “Since you wanna act stupid and like an ass, forget it.”
Crushed. Why did he feel like he’d been punched in the chest. “Say what you want to say. I’m giving you a place to sleep tonight the least you could do is elaborate.”
She lets out a dry laugh and sets down her glass. “The moment you registered it was me out there it was written all over your face. You wanted to shoot me where I stood. So why didn’t you? You had the perfect opportunity and quite frankly, the perfect shot.”
“I already told you; Joseph needs you. No harm is allowed to come to you unless he says so.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it!” she sighs and leans against the counter staring at her feet trying to find the words. “You know…. This is hard for me too.”
His body freezes and his blood runs cold. The only thing he can do is stare at her.
“The whole being hunted thing isn’t all that fun but you, out of every Peggie and every member of your family, have taken it easy on me. You practically let me go and now you're letting me shack up on your couch to nurse a concussion?” she finally looks up and into his eyes. “I just want to know why. I think I know but I want to hear you say it.”
He knows she can see it in his eyes. The whirlpool of different emotions. He takes a deep breath to steady his voice and very quietly wills out “Joseph isn’t the only one that wants you. You’re special to me too. He thinks it’s some sign from God that I feel this way but he’s wrong. I know he is…” he trails off and stares out the window next to him wishing this could all be forgotten.
The deputy slowly walks over to him stopping a few feet away, testing the waters. “And what feelings are those exactly? I'd like to know so I can decide if staying is a safe idea.”
“You know the answer to that pup. You have the whole time.” He finally looks over at her, face soft and full of shame and sadness. She thinks he’s crazy. She’s going to run.
She looks down and lets out a small and almost silent giggle “I guess you’re right, I mean, you’re terrible at hiding it.
“What do you mean by that?” He raises an eyebrow and clenches his jaw, feeling as though she’s mocking him.
She shakes her head and inches closer, eyes still trained on the floor. “It’s just, all the times you’ve had me or when Joseph calls his little meetings while I’m captured, I’ve noticed some things “
“And what things would that be?” He turns his body to her in an effort to get her to look at him.
“Well, it’s just that.” She looks up at him but only briefly “It’s just that, all those times, I’ve started to notice the way you look at me when you think I can’t see you. I can and it makes me wish you would just bite the bullet and look at me like that all the time.”
She’s looking straight at him now. He feels like he’s been thrown out of a plane with no parachute. If she could see it, then so could everybody else. That’s why John has been after her more aggressively. He was trying to take her away from him. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and inhaled sharply.
“You don’t have a concussion, do you?” he watched as a smile crept across her face, one following suit on his own when she shook her head. “Which leads to my next question, why did you not have any pants on?”
“The pants thing was the truth, they’re on a fishing trip. Stopped on the bank to wash my clothes and turned around for ten seconds and, poof, they were gone.” She shrugs and turns to walk back to the couch but is stopped when a strong hand grasps her wrist.
“How did you know I would be here?” Jacob tilts his head as he sees a mischievous glint in her breathtaking eyes.
"Oh, please Jacob, you mean to tell me that you haven’t noticed how much I’ve been slinking around your territory? I was looking for you, waiting for an opportunity to prove that we’re both off our rockers and should be committed.”
“Why’s that?” he lets out a small chuckle and pulls her just a little closer making sure she won’t pull away.
“Well for you there’s an extensive list of reasons, one being that you’ve got a serious case of the puppy dog eyes for the chick that’s been terrorizing your livelihood. You have immaculate taste if I do say so myself.” She steps closer.
“And for you?” His voice is low, gentle and yet still predatory.
“Me? That’s easy. See, you’re either really good at Stockholm Syndrome, or I’m just really messed up.” She places her hand on his arm and steps close enough to feel the heat of his body “because it would seem that I have a serious case of the puppy dog eyes for the man who locked me in a cage and made me a puppet. Regardless, I haven’t thought about anything but you for weeks. Naturally I had to hunt you down and domesticate you.”
Jacob looks down at the small woman before him, wondering how something so little and so fragile could cause so much chaos and interruption. He didn’t care though, because now she was his. He didn’t hesitate to lean down and capture her one last time. Although this time it was only in a gentle kiss. One that made his bones ignite and his heart pound. He wondered, as she snaked her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss, if Joseph had been right all along. Maybe she was meant for him. Maybe she was his salvation. His chaos.
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