COLD WATER

seventeen.            not built for jail

▬ "WHAT ARE- WHY...?" She couldn't find the words, no question would truly cover everything rolling around in her head. She was shocked, stunned even but there was a small piece of relief as she looked up at him, which only made him chuckle at the expression on her face.

"It's been a while."

"Why are you here?" She managed to ask, moving closer to him, her hand raised as she poked his arm just to make sure he was real and he shook his head a little as he reached out and patted the top of her head.

"I'm really here." He chuckled. "Alice has been keeping tabs on you and Bella. She saw Bella jump off the cliff, she thought she was trying to kill herself. Then you jumped, and there's no way you would... I mean, you have all your friends and you seem happy, so that didn't make-"

"Travis." She cut him off and he settled his eyes on her as she pushed her hair back out of her face.

"I had to come make sure you were okay, you're my best friend – whether you want to be or not. And I couldn't let Alice come alone if both of you had..." He cleared his throat, finding the words incredibly hard to say. "I just had to make sure you were okay."

She didn't have the words, her eyes brimming with tears as she smiled up at him. She had missed him, she had missed his jokes and the way he always seemed to embarrass Emmett so easily. She had missed the way he always tried to make her laugh and how he always tried to make light of heavy topics. "I missed you." She moved forward, wrapping her arms around his torso. He was surprised but quickly wrapped his arms around her as her hands fisted around the jacket he wore.

"Travis?" Bella questioned, her eyebrows creased, as she and Alice made their way into the living room, a warm mug of coffee in her hands.

"Hey, Bella." He nodded his head as he pulled away from Cori, but the little human stayed close to him. "Alice came for you, I came for Cori. Best friend duties." He answered her unasked question, but there was a slightly bitter tone mixed with his words.

"Be nice." Alice scolded him and he rolled his eyes as she moved towards Cori, a blue mug in her hands. "Drink this, it'll warm you up."

"Thanks, Alice." She gave her a small smile as she took it, letting out a soft exhale as the warmth seeped through the ceramic and to her palms.

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▬ "MY EYES ARE CLOSED." Travis huffed, holding his hand over his eyes and the girl turned a little just to make sure before she tugged Jacob's shirt over her head and unclasped her bra. "And no offense, but the only naked woman I wanna see is my wife."

She chuckled as she pulled out a clean bra and shirt, pulling them on before tugging her mostly wet jeans down her legs, she shivered a little but made quick work of changing into dry pants. "So you are married?"

"Do I hear disappointment?" He joked, his hand still covering his eyes as a smirk pulled at his lips.

"No, dummy. I'm just curious." She shrugged as she grabbed a pair of socks. "And I'm dressed so you can uncover your eyes." He peaked through his fingers, making her shake her head, before he dropped his hand completely. "Dork." She sat on the edge of her bed to pull her socks on and he flopped down next to her.

"You okay?" He asked as he lightly nudged her with his elbow. She nodded, giving him a smile, but he knew she was lying. "Come on, it's me. Tell me." He leaned his head over on her shoulder, his bottom lip poked out a little like an annoying little kid.

She let out a breathy chuckle as she shook her head, but her smile faded a little as she settled her eyes on her hands and picked at her nails. "Did he not know? Or did he not want to come? I know I ignored him, but I was just..."

"He doesn't know." He told her. "At least, he didn't. He was hunting when we left and his hunting trips have been long recently. Sometimes he's gone for days, which I kind of get. He needs some time alone, away from everyone." She simply nodded her head. "If he knew, nothing would've stopped him. He would swim the entire ocean, maybe even punch a few sharks, to get to you."

She giggled. "Are you saying I'm Nemo?"

"I knew that sounded familiar." He mumbled, making her laugh and he couldn't help the smile that pulled at his lips but it faded and he titled his head a little as his eyebrows pinched.

"What?" She asked and he turned to face her, his expression unreadable. "Travis?"

"Um, Edward thinks Bella is dead. He wants to get himself killed. We're going to Volterra, Bella and Alice are already in the car." He pushed himself up and she jumped up after him, her hands around his wrist. "Cori, I gotta go. He's annoying and sometimes boring but he's my brother."

"I wanna go." The words tumbled out before she could stop them.

"No, Cori, you-"

"If my sister is going, I'm going." The determination in her eyes took him by surprise, but he nodded and scooped her up in one arm, grabbing her shoes with the other, and in a blink they were in the backseat of the car.

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▬ "YOU DRIVE WORSE THAN CARTER." Cori mumbled, holding onto the door of the yellow Porchse as Alice drove entirely too fast and a little too recklessly. She had her eyes closed as she took deep breaths to try and fight off the wave of nausea that filled her stomach.

"New boyfriend?" Travis asked, a teasing smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, he seemed rather relaxed despite the fact that his sister drove like a complete and total maniac.

"No."

"Yes." Bella muttered, holding onto the dashboard.

"He's my best friend and this really isn't the time for this conversation." She huffed, her eyes still closed as she swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. "We got a psycho to save."

"He's not a-"

"Shut up." She grumbled, cutting her sister off, her finger raised in her direction and Bella let out a small huff, deciding it was best not to argue.

"I'm guessing you didn't rent this car." Bella glanced over at Alice as Travis slid across the backseat and pulled Cori towards him, trying to stabilize her a little better so she wasn't being tossed about in the backseat.

"I figured you wouldn't be opposed to grand theft auto."

"Not today."

"I am!" Cori nearly shouted. "I'm not built for jail!"

"You're not going to jail." Travis chuckled, patting her back and she rolled her eyes but his smile faded when he saw the look in Alice's eyes – he could see her in the rearview mirror.

"What? What do you see?" Bella asked, panic in her voice.

"They refused him."

"So?"

"He's gonna make a scene." Alice told her. "Show himself to the humans." She elaborated when Bella still looked confused.

"He's such a drama queen." Cori muttered and Travis put his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.

"When?" Bella asked, ignoring her sister's comment.

"He's gonna wait until noon, when the sun's at its highest." She answered, then she gasped a little, not liking what she saw.

"Alice, you gotta hurry up." Bella shifted in her seat.

"There's Volterra."

"Always wanted to visit Italy... this is not what I had in mind though." Cori mumbled, leaning towards the window to see the town that rested on a hill, but she kept her hand in Travis', the coolness of his hand did help stave off the car sickness a little.

Once they entered the city, Alice's driving only seems to get worse as she weaved through the rather slim roadways between the buildings, her hand constantly honking the horn. And that worked for a little bit, people moved out of the way but not without complaints towards the Porcsh, but the four inside didn't seem to care all that much.

"Why are they all in red?" Bella asked, her feet on the dash and her hands in her hair as she tried to keep herself calm.

"St. Marcus Day festival. They're commemorating the expulsion of vampires."

"They didn't do a very good job." Cori mumbled as she turned back towards Travis, who had pulled his hood up and tugged his sleeves down over his hands. "You okay?"

"There's a reason we miss school when the weather's nice." He mumbled.

"It's the perfect setting." Alice continued. "The Volturi will never let him get far enough to reveal himself."

"We have five minutes." Bella panicked, her eyes on the clock on the dash.

"I know, Bella, just breathe." Alice told her and Cori reached up, placing her hand on her sister's shoulder as a sort of comfort, but Bella barely acknowledged it. And before they made it any farther, men in uniforms stopped them and Bella jumped out of the car, and after Alice told her where to go, she took off into the sea of red cloaks.

⚘‎ nova speaks┆thank you for being patient with me. a lot has been going on recently and i really don't want to get into on her but my life has been hell recently.

anyways, we're so close to the end of this book, there are only two more chapters left and i honestly can't believe it!! i adore cori with my whole heart and i just love carter to pieces!! and it's interesting for me to see how people have reacted to them

some people love them other absolutely hate them, i personally find them adorable.

also, travis is back!! and oh, how i love him!!

also, thank you so much for 8k reads on this book. that's absolutely insane to me but i appreciate every single read!!