Chapter 14

EPOV

"Aro? What's going on?" I say, throwing myself down into my chair, expecting to hear the worst.

Which is exactly what I get.

"We've been trying to get a hold of you for days. This isn't easy to tell you, but I want you to know that we are searching and we won't let anything happen to you" he says, and I already know what he's going to say.

"Just say it, Aro" I say, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, preparing myself for the impact.

"Jacob's escaped"

The air leaves my lungs in a quick whoosh, and my head immediately starts to spin. I'm torn between asking for information about this, and throwing the phone down, and rushing out of my office and over to Bella's to get her, and then pick up my daughter so we can get far away from here.

"How did this happen?" I ask. I hear as Aro sharply intakes a breath and starts to talk.

"He was in his cell, when one of the guards approached him. We don't have sound on the security cameras, so we don't know what was said, but we witnessed the guard leaning down and saying something, and then making a move like he was unzipping his pants or something, and the next minute, he's laying down on the ground, clutching at his neck as Jacob undresses him and puts on his uniform. Jacob was somehow able to just walk out of the prison, using the guard's id card, and he escaped in his car."

I listen to this as I rest my elbows on the top of my desk, pinching the bridge of my nose in between my thumb and index finger, trying to relieve the pain that has started there all of a sudden.

"How long ago did this happen?" I ask, wondering if it's happened in just the past couple of hours. I could probably get Bella and Lila out of town in time, before he finds us somehow and tried to do something.

"It was almost a week ago" he says, and the hand I was using to rub away the pain in my head, is now clutched into a fist and sent flying down to the desk, sending containers of pens and paperclips bouncing up with the vibration of the desk.

"Why the fuck am I just hearing about this now!" I seethe into the phone. These people are supposed to be protecting us, but they waiting this long to tell me this…. Jacob could be anywhere now.

"I told you we tried getting a hold of you. We stopped by your old address, but they said you didn't live there anymore and the apartment manager didn't have your new address" I sigh when I hear this. When we moved, we didn't give them our new address in fear that if Jacob was released, he'd go there and find out where we lived.

"So, what do we need to do? Do I take Bella and Lila and get out of town? Do we hide until he's found?" I ask him, gripping at my hair to calm my nerves.

"Right now, we have no reason to believe he knows where you guys are, I mean, we didn't even know. I want to put some guys out there to watch your house, make sure you guys are safe until we can find him."

I tell him ok, and I give him our address and explain to him that Bella and I are in the process of changing our numbers, but we'll get back to him with the new numbers.

"I'm sorry this is happening, Edward." he says, exhaling loudly.

"Me too, Aro"

An hour later, I stand up from my chair, and make my way to the door. After I hung up with Detective Aro, I just sat there, staring off into space, wondering why this is happening to us. Jacob tried to ruin our life before and now he's trying to do it again.

I walk out of my office, ignoring Lauren as she runs up to me holding up a sheet of paper, asking for my signature.

"I'll take care of it later, Lauren" I tell her and press the button to go down to Bella's office.

I step on the elevator and ride it the short distance to the next floor. I step out and walk down the hall, forcing a smile as I see Heidi smile at me. I stop in front of Bella's door, raising my hand in the air prepared to knock, but not finding the willpower to bring it to the wood of the door. I stand there for a while, counting the line in the grain, and tracing each line with my finger before the door is pulled open, causing me to fall forward a bit. Bella's stunned face meets mine before a wide smile spreads across her face.

"Hey. What's going on?" she asks. Her smiles begins to fade when she takes in the look on my face, which must be a look of panic.

"Edward. What's wrong… what happened?" she asks, and brings her hands up, gripping the tops of my arms and standing closer to me. I take in a deep breath, and tell her the one thing I thought I'd never have to tell her again.

"It's Jacob, Bella….."

BPOV

One second.

That's all it took for my world to come crashing down on me. One second. Edward told me that Jacob escaped from prison, and that no one knows where he is, and my mind flashes back to those fear filled months when no one knew where he was, and I can think of nothing but the damage he caused. Jacob took me, held me captive and almost killed me and Lila. I still have nightmares to this day where I think I'm still in that cabin, tied up and in fear of mine and my child's life.

To think that I have to go through that again….

"What are we going to do?" I ask him, tears falling down my face.

"Aro said he was going to have cops patrolling the house every so often, and they're looking for him. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure Jacob doesn't

Get near you again." He pulls my to his chest, kissing the top of my head and running his hands through my hair.

"I'm scared" I say as I clutch on to Edward's shirt, burying my face into his chest.

"I'll die before I let him touch you ever again."

James POV

"I'm Sorry, but the number you have dialed is not in service at this time. Thank you"

I snap my phone shut and throw it onto the table in front of me. I've tried calling Bella for days now, but no one answers and now I know that they're just not ignoring my calls.

They changed their numbers.

I get up, pushing the chair back until it falls onto it's side, and I pace around the table, tugging at my hair and kicking at things along the way. I need to get to her, I need to tell her I'm sorry… I need her.

I look over at the clock and see that it's only a little after 4:30. I walk over to the counter and grab the keys to Kate's truck… well, my truck now. I grab a coat and slip it on, and open the door, stepping out into the hard cold rain. The rain drops pelt me as I run over to the truck and pull the drivers side door open.

The sound of the rain beating down on the windows is a sound you grow used to living in Seattle, but right now it's a sound that is slowly driving me insane in the small cabin of the truck. I lean forward and turn on the radio, cranking up the music and drowning out the sound of the outside. I fly through the streets of Seattle, trying to get there in time so I can see Bella before she leaves work.

My heart pounds faster as I get closer to Cullen Enterprises, knowing that in a few short moments I'll be seeing her, the woman I love. I park down the street from the building and walk up and into the parking garage, waiting for her to step off the elevator. I lean up against an older model BMW and wait.

A couple of minutes after 5, the elevator doors slide open and I catch a glimpse of Bella. After not seeing her for as long as it's been, her beauty hits me all at once, causing the air to whoosh out of my body as if I'd been punched. I study her as she gets off the elevator and notice that her eyes are red and puffy.

She's been crying.

I go to step out of the shadow of the car when Masen walks out behind her, pulling his arm around and whispering something in her ear. She nods her head, and they walk past me, not noticing that I'm there, and walk straight to their car. I watch as Masen opens the passenger door for her, and then shuts it as soon as she's safely inside. He walks around the front of the car, looking around the garage as if he was making sure someone wasn't there watching him. I duck down behind the car, out of his sight until he opens the driver side door, stepping in and starting the car.

Did he know I was there?

I stand up from my hiding place as soon as their car turns the corner and I make my way out of the parking garage and to the truck. Once I'm safely out of the rain, I sit in the cabin of the truck, resting my head against the steering wheel.

As I feel the pain of not being able to be with Bella course through me, the rain on the roof of the car reminds me of a time when I felt this way. When I felt hopeless in love and didn't get the same back… a time when I did something that would change my life forever.

I waited outside of room 304, Carmen's 4th period, and last class of the day. My history class let out early, so I had decided to walk over and wait for her to get out. As I stood there, leaning against the row of dark blue lockers, I thought of what I had planned for today.

Carmen and I had been friends since the moment I first talked to her on her first day here. that's around the same time I fell in love with her.

It's been over a year that I've had to pretend she was only a friend to me. Over a year since I've had to hide my feelings for her, in fear that she wouldn't feel the same.

But I'm ending that today. Today, I'm going to tell her I love her, and that I want to be with her.

The bells rings and I stand up straight and wait for her to come through the door. After a couple of people trickle out of the room, Carmen finally walks out hand in hand with Ben. Ben and Carmen had been seeing each other for a while, but I knew it wasn't where she wanted to be. It wasn't where she belonged.

"James!" she said, dropping Ben's hand and rushing over to me. I pull her into a hug and nod my head at Ben. He nods back and then looks around, probably waiting for our exchange to finish.

"You busy right now, Carmen? I mean, you want to go hang out at my place or something. I got that movie you wanted to see…" she lets out a squeak and then turns and asks Ben if he wants to come.

"You know I gotta work, Carmen…" she huffs and tell him bye, and wraps her arm in mine. As we walk off, I look behind me towards Ben and give him a wink, knowing that by the end of the night, Carmen will be mine.

"I'll go get the popcorn" I tell her as she pops "10 things I hate about you" into the VCR. I wait the last 20 seconds as the popcorn pops in the bag in the microwave, and once it dings, I take the hot bag out and open it, dodging the steam as it rushes out past my face and pour the popcorn into a bowl. I grab two cokes from the fridge and shove them under my arms as I grab the bowl, balancing it in my hands as I walk into the living room. Carmen gets up from the sofa and grabs the bowl from my hands, and then sits down on the couch with the popcorn on her lap. I join her and together we watch as the movie starts.

Our sides are touching as we sit on the couch, and I can feel her body bounce every time she laughs. Her brown eyes meet mine numerous times throughout the movie, and I can't help but smile as she giggles. The movie ends, and I don't want to move. I know that if I don't say something soon, she'll leave and I don't want to wait another minute.

"Carmen," I say as she grabs the bowl and stands up, heading towards the kitchen. She stops and looks down at me, and I pat the seat next to me. She smiles and plops down, turning her upper body towards me, and resting her arm on the back of the couch.

The light from the moon streaming in the window dances across her face, along her caramel colored skin and her deep brown eyes. Her plump pink lips are open, waiting for me to say what I need to say, but at that moment, I have no words. Without stalling, I lean forward and press my lips against hers and I see fireworks. The spark I feel when our lips touch, makes me to close my eyes and relish in the feeling. The feeling of how perfect we fit together, and how it feels like her lips were made to be kissed by me and only me.

I raise my hand to cup the side of her face, when all of a sudden, I feel her hand at my chest, pushing me back. Our lips separate with a smack and I look down at her, and see fire in her eyes.

Just not the kind I was hoping for.

"What the fuck are you doing, James?" she asks, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as if my lips were poisonous or something. The thought immediately causes me to see red, to think that she acts like a kiss from me is something to be erased.

"I want you, Carmen. I always have wanted you" she scoffs and then rises up from the couch, walking over to the counter where her car keys are, and starts to walk to the door. I stand up and run after her, sliding in between her and the door right before she reaches the knob.

"Carmen…" I start but she cuts me off and raises her hand to my face.

"Listen James, I see that you have some pathetic little crush on me, but I'm with Ben and I'm going to be with Ben…. And you kissing me like that… don't ever do that shit again…" she says, and tries to walk around me to get to the door, but I push her back, as my blood boils and I try to fight the urge to knock her fucking head off.

"Ben can't handle you… I bet he can't even fuck you right" I seethe. She thinks Ben is so much better than me, maybe I should show her what she'll be missing. I lift my hand and start to run it up and down her sides. She starts laughing and looks up at me, and I think maybe I've got her. Maybe I can turn her around and she'll see I'm better for her.

"He does just fine…. What, James? You think you could do better? You and your little baby dick? Please" she laughs and she starts to move forward towards the door again. the rage I felt before is nothing compared to the rage I feel now. This isn't my Carmen. My Carmen would never humiliate me like this, but that doesn't matter, because whether or not I think she wouldn't do this, the fact is that she just did.

I can't let her get away with rejecting me. I bring my hands up and wrap them around her neck, squeezing tightly as she gasps.

"James…." she chokes out, but I ignore her calls. Right now she isn't the girl I loved. Right now she's just another bitch that is getting what she deserves. Her nails dig into my hands as she tries to pry them off of her neck, but even as blood starts to pour down my hands, my hold on her doesn't falter. Her scratching starts to slow down and a moment later her hands drop to her sides and I watch as the life leaves her body.

I pull up in front of the house, pissed off that I had to think about that day. I lost everything that day. Family, friends and of course the love of my life. I was in so much shock that I didn't know what to do with her body, so I left it there and went up to my room. I crawled into bed that night with my own blood caked on my hands and I tried to sleep, hoping that sleep would change things. Hoping that sleep would let me wake up and realize that it had all been a dream. I'd go to school and see Carmen's beautiful face and I'd know things we're Ok.

It didn't happen.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my mother screaming as she came in the house from her night shift, finding Carmen's body at the front door. The cops were called, and I was sent to jail. At first, I felt horrible that I had taken the life of my one and only love, but after a year behind bars, I realized something. She had brought this all on herself. If she had just given me a chance, she'd still be alive, but instead she wanted to make a fool of me…

She fucking deserved it.

I step into the dark house, and immediately sense something is wrong. I reach on the wall by the door for the light switch and flick it on. As the light floods the room, I see the figure of someone I thought I'd never see again.

"Jacob…"

"Damn it, Ana! Another Cliffie?" Yes.... Yes it is... You should know by now that's how I roll... HAHA

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-Ana