Amazing! I love hearing what you guys have to say. Whether it's just telling me you liked the chapter or letting me know what you'd like to see next, any review is an awesome review. For iltnlock, this chapter's a bit longer just for you :) (and Lauren I didn't Italicize on purpose.. I wanted it to be a surprise xD)

My neck's sore, my legs are bruised, and my arms won't lift higher than my shoulders. Jasmine pushed me to my limits tonight. As the Mai leader Jasmine is fierce. Dangerous. She sounds more and more like her mother every day. Don't get me wrong, I understand she has a lot of responsibility; it's just hard because I miss my Jazz. There's no more joking around, no more teasing Alek behind his back. (Not that we even have to try, he usually does that on his own. We just laugh on cue.) It's all about reaching my potential, being careful.

I slide into bed and close my eyes, wincing. Kill me now. I remember that I have Advil on the table next to my bed, but my eyelids are way too heavy for such difficult tasks. Instead I wave my arm around in what I think is probably the right direction until I hit something...soft? As I'm about to pull away it closes around my hand and my heart skips a beat. My eyes snap open, claws extended.

"Drugs, Chloe?" Alek teases, shaking the bottle.

"Alek!" I groan sinking back into my bed. "You scared me! NEVER do that again!"

"I don't think I've ever met a Mai more careless than you," he says in a quite matter of fact voice.

I respond with a glare.

"No, seriously," he continues, either not getting the hint or choosing to ignore it. "You're literally inviting an assassin into your bedroom, keeping your window open like that."

"Might be an improvement from what I'm currently getting..." I mutter.

He raises an eyebrow and places down the pill bottle. "I'm sorry," he says, sarcastically. "Is my protection bothering you?"

"Protection means sitting on my roof and watching out for Mai hunters. Where in your guardian hand book does it tell you to scare me out of my skin?"

Alek forgets for a moment that he's supposed to be sulking and grins. "That was a personal touch."

"I'm glad you're having fun, but if you don't mind I'd like to go crawl back into my bed and never move again for as long as I live."

He sits down on my blanket and gives me a smile that warns me he's about to make one of those jokes.

"Fine by me. For what I have planned you won't have to move at all. In fact, where do you keep your rope?"

I groan, rolling my eyes and fall back onto my pillow.

Bzzzzt. Bzzzzt. Bzzzzzzzzzzt.

The vibration is deafening. We both look at my phone at the same time. Brian grins at us from behind the screen.

Alek looks at me pointedly. "Aren't you going to answer that?"

I'm not really sure how I want to respond. If I tell him that I'll call Brian back later, Alek will assume I'm hiding something. But if I pick up and Brian says something romantic, Alek will pick it up with his super Mai hearing and-...and what?

He said he didn't like me anymore. He said he wasn't jealous.

And if he lied...Are you going to make him jealous on purpose? Chloe King, you wouldn't dare use Brian like that. It's not using, I protest against my conscience. I do like Brian. A lot. If Alek happens to overhear that and he happens to start liking me again, then it's simply fate.

You realize what you just thought, right? You want him to like you.

I ignore the thought and quickly answer before it goes to my voicemail.

"Hey Brian," I say with a smile.

"Hey! Chloe!" It's so cute how he gets super excited to talk to me. "I was just wondering if you wanted to come with me to visit my grandmother again tomorrow. She said she had some stuff to show me and asked specifically for you to tag along. You made quite the impression on her."

Alek's giving me a look that warns-don't you even think about it.

"Sounds great," I say cheerfully.

"Sweet. I'll pick you up like 10:30 ish."

"Perfect." We say our goodbyes and hang up. I place my phone down and stare expectedly at Alek, on account of him just standing there the whole conversation. "Do you have something to say?" I ask after a few seconds.

He thinks for a moment and then grins. "Nope. Just that I hope you have oodles of fun tomorrow."

Oodles?

He makes his way back to the window and I wonder what he came here to talk about in the first place. Just as he's about to pull my curtain aside, he turns around.

"Oh, Chloe?"

"Yeah?" I'm not sure what to expect. Say you don't want me to go, I think. Tell me it's a bad idea. Beg me to stay home, anything. Just show me you still care.

"I wanted to let you know that I have a date with Mimi tomorrow, so Jasmine's gonna send over a few guys."

I smile tightly. "That's awesome. Have oodles of fun right back atcha then," I forcibly punch him lightly on the shoulder.

Alek gives me a small smile and a funny look before he leaves.

I've never been jealous of Mimi before. In fact, last time I encouraged him to make out with her, just so I could have some alone time with Brian. So what changed? Why this time did it feel like he just slapped me in the face?