Selcouth • J. Hale ✓

xxiii.

chapter twenty-three.

"Jasper this isn't funny, call me back."

Karina tossed her phone onto her bed and ran her hands through her hair. For the past month Karina had been trying to get a hold of Jasper, Rosalie, and Alice but none of them were answering her calls.

The ache in her chest had returned and only seemed to get worse as time passed. She knew that it was because Jasper was gone, and it hurt to learn that he wouldn't even explain himself or warn her.

It made her regret not answering his calls when he would call her, but at the time she was mourning and knew that breaking down with Jasper on the other line would only make her miss him more.

When Bella had told Karina about how Jasper almost attacked her at her birthday party, Karina was shocked and blamed herself for not being there to distract him. Bella explained that she wasn't upset with Jasper at all, but that Edward had told her how Carlisle wasn't matching his age and people were noticing.

Karina called bullshit but didn't say anything when Bella told her how Edward told her that he didn't want her. Karina then noticed how grave the situation was, soulmates or not, Bella was Edward's mate and he had hurt their bond.

As time passed, Karina did her best to keep Bella distracted but the girl was gone. Bella was so depressed that it worried Karina to no end, but she didn't know what to do.

Mourning the loss of her father and now her soulmate was something that Karina had been trying her best not to do, but with a depressed Bella and energetic William, she knew that she could focus on it later. She's always pushed it to the side and said she'd cry later, but later was now and Karina was panicking as she didn't want to cry now.

Karina didn't get the chance to think of a distraction before she felt the sudden need to vomit, she rushed upstairs and into the bathroom. Only vomit never came, instead Karina felt a burning at the back of her throat before she began to violently cough. Her chest burned with every cough that was let out until finally blood landed in the toilet and Karina's eyes widened.

Something was wrong, something was seriously wrong.

Standing to her feet, Karina quickly scribbled down on a piece of paper that she was going to the Reservation before grabbing Roscoe and her car keys. The two drove down to the Reservation and Karina didn't know where to find Javier so she simply drove to Billy Black's house.

Karina only knew where he lived since her mother and Charlie forced her and William to join them for dinner. Charlie couldn't get Bella to get out of bed so, he left her home. Karina remembered that night all too fondly, because she learned a lot about her family that night.

"Mom?" Karina called out to the woman who was talking with Billy and Charlie. "Why does this look like Grandpa?"

Karina was looking at a photo, it was of two men with their arms around one another's shoulders and wide smiles on their faces. The one on the right was unfamiliar but the one on the left looked a lot like her Grandfather. She had seen pictures of him growing up but since he died before she was born, she never met him.

"What?" Aurora questioned, not believing it. Walking over, Aurora's eyes watered at the sight of who looked to be Benjamin Clark with a smile on his face. "Billy, what is this?"

"That's my Grandfather and his brother, Benjamin." Billy explained after Charlie had helped him over.

"He looks like my dad." Aurora admitted, "Did Benjamin have children?" Aurora asked Billy suddenly, the gears turning in her head.