The Bonds Between Us • E.Cullen x Fem oc x B. Swan

Chapter 40

The black Mercedes seemed like a blur on the road as Jasper drove, his golden eyes flickering up to the rear view mirror ever few minutes to check on Cori. Her emotions were worrying to him.

Worry, self hatred, anger, distrust, we're all rolling off of her as she stared out the window, seemingly at nothing. Her head turned slightly as Bella started to talk, the second time she had called her mother.

"Hey mom, it's me again. Um, you must have let your phone die or something. I'm not in Forks, but everything's okay, I'm with Lia, and I'll explain it later." Bella said into the phone, glancing over to Cori as she still starred out the window. "I love you." Bella said before ending the call.

"Lia? You okay?" Bella asked. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Cori answered, her voice sounding far off. "Talk to me. Please." "Edwards going back to his old habits." Cori said after a minute, trying to ignore the wandering eyes of Alice, and the listening ears of Jasper. They would hear her regardless, and she knew they wouldn't tell, but still.

"His old habits?" "Yeah. He used to try to control what I did. He thought me too fragile to do certain things. He wouldn't listen, and he would keep things from me. He's doing it again." "What if he's doing it for the right reasons?" Bella asked softly.

"When we made our deal to always be truthful, to always keep a line of communication open, to always listen to each other, I just- I thought it would last longer." "It was a stressful situation." "Is that what's gonna happen at every single bump in the road? Are we gonna get shoved to the side? Our voices be shot down?" Cori asked.

"Lia-" "No Bella, he made me feel like I was going insane, like I had made all of this up in my head. He laughed! My dad's life is in danger, the only real parent I have left, and he wanted to put him in jeopardy." "I understand." "Do you? Your dad was in danger because of you going back to your house, mine has been a target for nearly three months, maybe longer. She's using him for something, and when she's done, she will kill him. My dad is a just a pawn in a bigger game."

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The Mercedes had just entered the  Arizona border, and the car was quiet. It had been for a while. Bella didn't know how to talk to Cori without bringing up Edward, and Cori was still cooling off.

The redhead did feel bad for blowing up on her girl friend, but she had to get these thoughts out of her head. So when Bella reached her hand across the seat, seeing the couple up front connecting hands, Cori took it.

Bella had been taking naps on and off, but Cori kept wide awake, but it was now catching up with her. Bella unbuckled Cori, making her scooch closer to her, allowing Cori to use her as a pillow. "Get some sleep." Bella told her as Cori was already asleep, her soft snores being heard by everyone in the car.

When Bella knew she was asleep, the brunette spoke quietly. "Why does she do that? Keep everything inside until it explodes out." "Because she doesn't know any different." Alice told her. "What do you mean?"

"Cori's had a hard life. Yes she's always had money, food, and a roof over her head, but she's never truly had a support system. She's been emotionally damaged by her parents, and it makes her keep things to herself, not wanting to be a burden. Her mom basically abandoned her, her father hardly ever being home, it's leaves an affect on a person, especially a child. It's given her anxiety, depression, and abandonment issues, just to name a few. That's why she's always touching, looking or speaking to the ones she cares about. It's a sense of reassurance for her. Breaking those cycles are difficult, especially when they show up in high stress situations." Jasper told the girl.

"How can I help?" Bella asked as she looked down to the sleeping girl. She loved her. She could honestly say she loved Cordelia Austin.

Jasper's eyes flickered to the brunette through the rear view mirror before he spoke. "Just be there for her. Be a person who she can talk to, vent to. Edward isn't the best a listening, as you can tell. It usually takes a fight between them to see that she was right, and to correct his mistakes. She's strong. Not just mentally, but she tries to fit in with us so much, and her powers don't help. We forget she's human half of the time. She's never lets Edward, or anyone walk over her, and I think hell will freeze over before she does."

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Pulling up to the hotel in Phenix, the brunette girl gently waking up Cori. "Lia, we're here." Bella said and the engine was cut, Jasper unloading the bags from the back under the shade of the awning.

Turning back on her phone, Cori's face screwed up in a painful expression, on that caught Bella's eye. "Lia?" "He's called seventeen times." Cori said sadly, seeing that there were voicemail, but she wasn't able to listen to them. Not yet. "Your dad?" Bella asked and Cori nodded with tears in her eyes. Bella brought her into a hug, one that she knew was well needed as she felt Cori's tears soak into her shirt.

Bella guided Cori to their room, following Alice and Jasper. The girls sat on the edge of the bed, Cori's phone in her hand. "Do you want me to type it out?" Bella asked. "No, I just don't know what to say." "Just tell him you're with Bella. No location, nothing. That you're okay. It will keep him safe." Jasper told the girls from the door way.

Sighing, she opened her phone and typed out the message.

I'm okay dad. I'm with Bella and we're in a motel. I just need a few days. I love you, and I'm sorry.

Hitting send and closing the device, it seemed like the hardest of the things she'd done to date.

Alice gasped in the next room, here eyes blown wide as she was hit with a vision. "Alice!" Cori called as she lept from the bed, Bella trailing behind her.

"What is it? What do you see?" Jasper asked as he held her hand. "The tracker, he just changed course." "Where will it take him, Alice?" He asked. "Mirrors, a room full of mirrors." She said as Cori scrambled for a pencil and paper, handing them to Jasper who helped guide Alice's hand.

"Edward said the visions weren't always certain." Bella said aloud, but Cori answered her asked question. "She see's the path people are on while they're on it. If they change their mind the vision changes. There could be thousands of possibilities, but the one she see's is the one that is most likely to happen." Cori explained, Jasper nodding his appreciation to the red head.

"Okay, so the course that the tracker's on now is gonna lead him to a ballet studio?" Bella asked, confused with the drawing.

"You've been here?" Alice asked as Cori's anxiety started to creep up again. "I look lessons as a kid. The school I went to had an arch just like that." Bella said as Cori walked out of the room, her hands in her hair, pulling at her roots.

The others looked to her but Jasper asked his question anyway. "Was your school here is Phenix?" He asked. "Yeah." Bella said as her phone went off, Jasper giving Alice a kiss to the cheek as he went to check on Cori.

"Edward, are you okay?" Bella asked as soon as she flipped open her phone. "We've lost the tracker. The woman's still in the area. Esme and Rosalie are protecting both of your fathers. I'm coming to get the both of you. Then we are going to go some where, alone. The others will keep hunting. I'll do what ever it takes to make you two safe again." He told her. "Can you put Cori on the phone?" He asked, but he heard the conversation in the back ground.

"They're all going to die, and I'm going to end up alone. I can't. I can't." Cori cried as she hyperventilated, her breaths coming out in quick, uneven breaths. Jasper tried to calm her down, but it seemed nothing was working, even his gift seemed to have no effect on her which made him panic slightly.

"Jasper." Bella called as she tossed the phone to him, him pressing speaker phone. "Speak." He told his brother and Edward did. "Cori, baby, I'm coming for you. For both of you. We'll be okay, I promise. When I get to you, I'll tell you everything I promise." He told her as she started to calm down.

Her voice was still weak and horse but she managed to spit out a few words, the most important ones. "I love you." "I love you too. I'll be there as fast as I can." He told her before the call was ended.

"What do we do now?" Bella asked as she sat next to Cori, the redhead leaning into the brunette heavily. "We wait."

A/N: How are you liking the story so far? Do you have any theories? Let me know in the comments! I love hearing from you guys!!!