Rock and Roll Rebel

Chapter 16

Bella could feel the tension rolling off Jasper. He hadn't moved a muscle since he started driving. Not a single one except to turn and keep the car straight. It was eerie.

"So yellow, huh?" she said, referring to the car. "Never really thought of you as a bright sunflower type of guy."

A corner of his mouth turned up and he chuckled as his shoulders finally relaxed a bit. He reached over and took her hand.

"He's not, believe me," Alice laughed from the backseat. "He doesn't even have a car. Just motorcycles. This one is mine."

"You have a motorcycle?" Bella gaped.

"Two," Jasper smirked.

"Okay, we make it out of this alive, I want a ride."

Jasper's good mood abruptly faded and he turned to look at her briefly before focusing back on the road. "You'll make it outta this alive, Bella.  I promise."

She held his hand tighter and nodded. She just wasn't sure she believed it yet.

They arrived in Phoenix quicker than she ever would have on her own, and booked a room in a hotel. Once he had set their bags down, Jasper took Bella's hand once again and led her to the bed. "C'mon. You should get some sleep while you can."

She scoffed. "Yeah, right. Cause an obsessed vampire chasing me isn't enough to give me nightmares."

"I'll be right here," he said, lifting the covers for her and wrapping her up in them, before putting his arms around her and holding her to his chest. "I'll keep you safe."

She sighed, leaning into his embrace as he stroked her hair. She'd always felt safe with him. Always. She let her eyes drift closed and tried to forget about the nightmare her reality had become.

No sooner had she fallen asleep than Alice suddenly gasped, eyes wide and staring blankly ahead. Jasper knew that look. Bella followed him over to where Alice was sitting on the couch. "Ali, what is it? What do you see?"

"The tracker," she said, "he's changed course."

Jasper quickly grabbed a pencil and paper, placing the pencil in Alice's hand and the paper on the table before her. "Where will it take him, Ali?"

Bella was amazed as she began to sketch, never blinking or breaking eye contact with the blank TV screen in front of her.

"Mirrors. A room full of mirrors."

"Didn't you say her visions could change?" Bella asked, her heart rate picking up speed as the sketch began to look more and more familiar.

"If James changes his mind again, they will," Jasper explained, studying the sketch for himself. "She sees the outcome of someone's current path. If they make a different decision, her visions reflect that."

The way he spoke, the way they moved together completely in sync, it made her wonder just how often this happened. How long they had been relying on each other before they were adopted by the Cullens? Before Alice fell in love with Edward. Before Jasper fell in love with her.

Bella cleared her throat. Jasper turned his head from studying the drawing to look up at her. "So the path that he's on now leads him to a ballet studio?"

This seemed to snap Alice out of whatever she was seeing and she looked up at Bella. "You've been here?"

"I mean, I think so, yeah. I took ballet lessons as a kid, and the studio had an arch just like that."

Jasper's brows drew in sharply. "Was the studio here in Phoenix?"

"Yeah."

"Damn," his hissed, leaping up from the couch and pulling out his phone. "Emmett, change of plans. James is coming to Phoenix. I'm taking Bella with me... It doesn't matter where!"

Alice had moved to stand beside Bella, an arm wrapped around her shoulders as Jasper paced.

"I don't know," he continued, digging his fingers into his already messy blond hair. "It doesn't matter. Are Rose and Esme watching Chief Swan? Good. Bella and I will leave tonight..."

Bella's heart jumped into her throat. "We can't!"

"Bella, we're not staying here," he shook his head, panic beginning to coil tightly in his belly. It was very unlike him to charge ahead without a plan, but all he could think of was how to get Bella somewhere safe. "I'm not letting him get anywhere near you."

"My mom is here, Jasper," she argued. "She'll be back in town any day. We can't just leave her unprotected!"

"Alice and I will stay," Edward suddenly spoke up from the other end of the line. "We're already on the road, we'll be there this evening. Then you and Bella can go, Alice and I will watch her mother, and Carlisle and Emmett can continue searching for James. Would that be alright?"

Jasper sighed. It was a plan at least, and it was more than he had at the moment. As desperately as he wanted to put as much distance as possible between Bella and the tracker, he didn't want to leave Alice alone either. "Alright. Get here as quick as you can, you hear me?"

"We will."