“What did you do?” I ask and his brows furrow. Shocked I heard him over the sounds of our rushing feet and that I would confront him about it straight away.
“None of your business,” He scowls.
I move closer, prodding him in the chest with my finger. “It is if you have anything to do with what happened to Piper and the others,”
He looks away. “It has nothing to do with the missing girls. I’m the one that helped find Piper, remember,”
“Yeah, all those bratva ties found her pretty quickly,” I whisper. “The same criminal style gang that runs this operation in the first place,”
That makes him mad as he pushes further into me, Daylan places his arms between us attempting to block his friend.
“I had nothing to do with Piper going missing. I love that girl. I would rather die than hurt a single hair on her head,” He growls in my face.
“Dude, calm down,” Daylan pushes him away from me, but I still see the guilty look in his eyes.
“Jacob, what did you mean then. What have you done?”
Jacob is a very quiet individual, even around his friends he only inputs when asked a question or when it has to do with Piper. This is the most emotion I have seen on him, and words spoke around me. I can see the panic and guilt eating away at him, and if he doesn’t let it out, then it will eat him alive.
“Jeez Jacob, what the fuck is going on?” Daylan joins in, noticing the change in his friend. “You have been off all week, then you started that fight today on the field and now this,”
Jacob starts to pace in the empty corridor, pulling on his hair.
“I fucked up,” he begins. “I know we aren’t together, but I think it’s safe to say that I have been in love with Piper my whole life,” He stops and takes a deep breath. “Last term we kissed but she panicked. Told me it was a mistake and that we can’t ruin the friendship. She wouldn’t return my calls or texts, wouldn’t open her door to me to fix it. I got black out drunk the same night,” He pauses and drops his gaze to the floor.
“I woke up to Stacey in my bed,”
“Ah shit man,” Daylan shakes his head.
“There’s more,” He shakes his head almost in disbelief. “What woke me up was Asher banging on the door screaming that Piper had been taken,” He peeks up eyes full of anguish. “I punished her for rejecting me by sleeping with Stacey, and all the while she wasn’t ghosting me, she was fucking kidnapped,”
I suck in a breath as Daylan murmurs profanities.
“You have to tell her Jacob. It’s eating you alive. I’m sure she will understand. You were drunk and hurt,”
He looks at me and pauses.
“Stacey’s pregnant,”
My heart drops.
He was right, this is going to destroy Piper. She may have not wanted to ruin what they had before, but that girl thinks he hung the moon, she is in love with him as much as he is in love with her.
“You have to tell Asher,” Daylan eventually says.
“I will, just not right now,” Jacob swallows but it seems painful. “I will tell Piper as well, I need her to be okay first, I want this all to be over before she inevitably cuts me out of her life,”
“I’m not sure I can…” I start to protest. I may find it easy to lie, but this is different.
“Please Ruella, I need to be the one to tell her. I still can’t believe I blurted that out to you in the first place. I don’t even like you,”
I take a deep breath. “Fine. I won’t tell her, but you have seven days to do it,”
“What. No,”
“You want to wait till this is all over, but that could take months. Do you really think seeing Stacey with a bump will not set off alarm bells, or even worse, she blurts out who the father of her unborn child is in front of an audience. I think that girl has suffered enough don’t you?”
Jacob is silent for a long time. “You’re right,” He hangs his head.
