COLD WATER

fifteen.                little monster

▬ EMILY SMILED A LITTLE as she looked over at the girl that sat on the couch, a book in her hands and a blanket pulled around her shoulders. Cori hadn't said much of anything since that day in the woods, not to anyone really, which Carter and Noah had noticed. She had been different and though their other friends knew why, they didn't. Carter would call to make plans and Cori would make up an excuse, usually that she was working but that wasn't believable because she had called out of work the last two days claiming she was sick.

"Hey, muffins are ready." Emily told her and Cori looked over her shoulder to see the woman holding up a plate of rather large muffins. "Want one?"

"I'm good. Thanks, Em." She gave her a smile, getting a nod in return as she placed the plate on the counter. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, of course." Emily nodded as Cori turned so her knees were pressed into the cushions and her chin was on the back of the couch.

"Do you ever get tired of cooking all the time? I mean, they eat like four meals in one sitting and there's a lot of them. So, you're basically cooking all the time."

"I like cooking." Emily smiled. "And, I don't know, it's almost like I'm feeding my kids so, no, I don't get tired of it."

"Makes sense, they're all pretty childish." She mumbled, getting a chuckle from the women. "But are there other things you like to do?"

"I read and I like shopping, and no, not just for groceries." She gave the girl a look, her smile still intact. "I even paint, I'm not very good, but I like it. But one of my favorite things is taking care of others."

"Do you think that's why Sam imprinted on you? Because he's the alpha and that kind of makes you a mom of sorts?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "But it makes sense. Why are you asking all the sudden?"

"I'm just curious." She told her but before either could say anything else a noise sounded from outside.

"The guys are back." Emily hummed. "And get your knees out of my couch."

"Oh, sorry." Cori quickly turned around so she was sitting on her butt with her knees pulled up to her chest and her book open.

"Cori." Jared walked over and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, making her giggle. "You doing okay?"

"I'm fine." She patted his forearm. "I think Emily made muffins, let go of me and go get one."

"You love me." He hummed as he stood up and made his way over to the counter where Emily stood with the muffins. "You're the best." He told the woman and she chuckled, then Embry walked in, going straight for the muffins.

"You guys hungry? Like I have to ask."

"They're always hungry." Cori added. "There isn't enough food in the world." Emily laughed as the two boys agreed, but their voices were muffled by the food.

"Who's this?" Emily asked when she saw the oldest Swan standing in the doorway and that made Cori turn.

"Bella?"

"Cori? What are you doing here?"

"Reading." She waved her book in the air a little and Emily looked between the two, slightly confused. "Emily, this is Bella, my sister. Bella, Emily."

"Hmm. So, you're the vampire girl." She smirked.

"So, you're the wolf girl." Bella stated awkwardly as she stepped into the house.

"Guess so." She nodded and she put the plate on the table. "Well, I'm engaged to one."

"If you wanna get technical, she's one of three." Cori hummed as she turned back to her book. "Kim and Rachel are at work."

"Shouldn't you be at work?" Embry asked the girl.

"Nope. I'm sick." She added a fake couch and he just hummed in response as Jared reached for another muffin, only to have Emily grab his wrist.

"Save some for your brothers." He let the muffin go. "And ladies first." She shoved their backs a little, making them both chuckle before she looked over at Bella. "Muffin?"

"Sure, thanks." Bella reached for one and Jared looked over at Cori, his eyebrows pinched.

"Hey, Little Monster, you want one?"

"I'm good." She turned to look over her shoulder. "Thanks, though." He shrugged and went back to eating his muffin.

"Leave it to Jacob to find a way around Sam's gag order." Emily mused and Bella looked over at Cori, not wanting to accidentally tell her a huge secret... again. "She knows." Emily reassured her.

"Yep, been in the loop for about a year." She mumbled, closing her book. "And I don't like this book. There's no romance." She dropped it onto the coffee table and stood up, keeping the blanket around her shoulders as she joined them at the table. "So, proceed."

"Oh, um, well, he didn't say anything to me." Bella looked up at Emily once again, like she was trying to keep the boy in question out of trouble.

"That's a wolf thing." Embry added, getting Bella's attention as Cori reached over and took a piece of Jared's muffin. "Alpha's order's get obeyed whether we want them to or not." He continued and Cori stole another piece of the boy's muffin, getting a glare from him. "Oh, and check it out. We can hear each other's thoughts."

"Would you shut up?" Jared huffed. "These are trade secrets. Damn it! This chick runs with vampires. And will you stop taking pieces of my muffin!?" He directed the last part at Cori and she giggled as she put a piece into her mouth.

"You can't really run with vampires." Bella stated, getting a soft giggle from Emily. "Cause they're fast."

"Yeah?" Jared nodded, unimpressed as he grabbed another muffin, this time Emily let him. "Well, we're faster. Freaked out yet?" He asked as he put the muffin in front of Cori. "There."

"Thanks." She hummed as she picked at it, even though she knew she would not be able to finish the whole thing.

"You're not the first monsters I've met."

"Don't call my friends monsters." Cori chunked a piece of muffin at her sister, her eyes narrowed.

"Aww, she loves us." Jared gushed as he leaned over and wrapped his arms around her, making her laugh as she patted his forearm.

"You can let go now." She told him but he didn't listen.

"Just accept it." He mumbled, resting his cheek against the side of her head and she smiled a little, she liked the affection... but he seemed to forget that his hugs were fhr equivalent to a ton of bricks falling into her chest. And when he still didn't pull away she smirked a little...

"Ow!" He pulled his arms back, leaning away from the girl. "You bit me." He narrowed his eyes at her as he rubbed his forearm and Emily shook her head. "Ya little monster." He huffed and she just smiled at him as Embry laughed at the two.

"Jake's right." They turned to see Sam enter the house. "You're good with weird." He nodded towards the older Swan before making his way over to Emily, wrapping his arms around her as he planted kisses against her face. Then he looked at the three at the table, Jared was still rubbing his arm as he glared at Cori and she grinned teasingly at him as she put a small piece of muffin into her mouth. "And what's going on here?"

"She bit me."

"Shouldn't have asked." He shook his head as he looked at Emily again, kissing the side of her head. Then Paul walked in but Jacob stayed at the door, the shirtless boy smirked as he looked up at Bella before sitting in front of her at the table.

"Sorry." He hummed as he turned to grab a muffin, as Jared gave Embry a five dollar bill. "Hey, Munchkin." He smiled as Jacob nodded for Bella to join him, and the older Swan left, though she did look back once more at Cori to see her laughing as Jared told Paul that she had bitten him – going as far as to show him the already healing teeth marks in his skin – which only made the boy laugh before he held his hand up for a high five, which Cori accepted.

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▬ "YOU GONNA TELL ME what's been bothering you?" Carter asked as he and Cori cuddled in his bed, neither really paying much attention to the movie on the tv.

"I'm fine." She tilted her head back, a small smile on her lips.

"You're not fine. Please tell me. I'm worried about you."

"It's hard to explain."

"Try, please." He tucked her hair behind her ear. "You've been off for a few days and it's freaking me out."

"It's nothing really." She shrugged and her chest ached as she formed a lie – she hated lying but she didn't want him to know what she knew, she wanted to protect him from that world. "Bella and I went on a hike the other day. She wanted to find this meadow Edward had taken her to and... there was this guy. I think he followed us out there and he wasn't very nice. Um, he attacked us but an animal or something got his attention and we booked it."

"I don't even-"

"I don't wanna think about it." She traced her finger across his bare chest. "It was terrifying."

"Sweetheart." He breathed out, pulling her closer to him as he kissed the top of her head. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? You don't have to deal with this stuff alone. I'm here. You can tell me anything."

She nodded against him, tears building behind her eyes. "I know." The ache in her chest grew because she wanted to tell him everything, she wanted to be able to talk to him about it. To explain what happened the year before and how what had happened in the woods brought it all back after she had spent months getting over it.

"How can I help?"

"I don't know." She shrugged as she looked up at him. "Make me not think about it."

He gave her a small smile as his hand rested on her cheek. "That I can do." He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his just a little harder, wanting it to wash away everything and for a while it did. 

⚘‎ nova speaks┆i know i said i wasn't sure when i was gonna update as i have some family stuff going on at the moment but i had a few minutes and i really wanna thank all of you for all the reads, votes and comments on this book as well as let down!

it makes me so happy that you all are enjoying my books as much as i am and i can't believe this book is already at 5.8k reads! it's absolutely insane!

i appreciate all of you so much! and i want you to know that!