Chapter 38: Dessert

Ripley's POV

Dinner had been awkward.

Gemma was practically seething at the sight of Ripley at the dinner table. August seemed to think it would help to rave about how fantastic Ripley was, all of the wonderful things she could do, how many times she had saved Jake today.

That seemed to make Gemma angrier.

"You've put our son in danger for the sake of that...girl?" Gemma spat.

The table was quiet, except for Cody and Clay who were slurping noisily at their soup.

"He didn't get hurt. She's the one that got shot and stabbed a bunch of times," August shrugged.

Gemma's smirk had hurt worse than the bullets.

Needless to say, Ripley sighed with relief when Jake led her upstairs to the bedroom.

"Sorry about that," he said quietly.

"We can figure it out." Ripley did her best to shrug off all thoughts of the uncomfortable dinner.

"You must be exhausted." Jake pulled Ripley towards himself.