Alek put the phone to his ear, "Hello," he said. He listened for a moment and dropped to his knees with an audible, graceless thud. Chloe was on her feet in a second, all the warm fuzzies she'd been experiencing from her recent make-out session with Alek disappearing in the adrenaline rush of a moment. Her hands were shaking as she waited for Alek to finish his conversation. She knew this had to be about Jasmine. She was somewhat relieved because she knew that now at least the terrible waiting would be over since they had finally received word about their friend. She stood behind Alek, unable to read his reaction from behind.
Alek's head was bowed, but that could be in either relief or sorrow. The suspense was terrible, she couldn't tell anything from the one side of the conversation that she could hear. She could tune her hearing in order to catch the other side of the conversation but she refrained for the same reason she couldn't bear to see Alek's face yet. She didn't want to hear that she'd lost another person. She didn't want to add another burden of grief to her already heavy load.
Chloe shook her head and straightened her shoulders. That was no way to think. Hadn't she just been mentally berating herself like five seconds ago for her selfishness? She was only thinking of herself again. If the worst had happened and Jasmine hadn't made it, Alek was going to need her. Jasmine was the last family he had left. Losing her would be much harder on him than it would be on her. She needed to put her own feelings aside this time and be there for him the way he had been there for her. Alek might be her protector but she didn't want their relationship to be one sided—him giving and her taking. He could let her take care of him for a change.
It was time to suck it up, nut up or shut up as Paul would say. She needed to stop stalling and find out what happened. Slowly she concentrated on Alek trying to focus on what he would be feeling. There was a tiny almost imperceptible mental click as her unique empathic bond was secured and his feelings slammed into her with the strength of flood waters flowing from a broken dam. She felt her legs go boneless as she too dropped to the floor.
Hey guys, I know you'll probably hate me for building the suspense like this =) but stay tuned for the next chapter. I promise not to keep you waiting long especially since this chapter was really short. Please review and let me know what you think, it makes me want to update faster!