Enjoy. I hope to get at least 10 reviews per chapter, so please remember to review.

Sorry guys for the delay, at least I've managed to update in about a month, which honestly I'm pretty happy about. It would have been out sooner, but when I was typing it up the bottom half of the chapter all got deleted and I had to start again from scratch. But, I tried to make up the long absences by making this my longest chapter so far. I know it's kind of slow but I really like the second half of this chapter a lot more, and I had some fun writing it. I hope you guys find it okay!

Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Kelley Armstrong

CHAPTER 10

Chloe's P.O.V.

Ring.

I flinched at the sudden sound of my cell phone buzzing as I automatically rejected the incoming call. It was obviously Nate, and had been Nate in the past eight calls, but each time I sent him to voicemail and kept walking determinedly.

God, I barely had any time to compute anything that had just happened mere minutes before, but I knew I made the right choice. I'm glad I walked away, because if I had stayed for just a second longer, I was absolutely positive that my friendship with Nate would be utterly and completely ruined, and I would have led him on. So, yeah, I'm glad that I walked away when I did, because Nate deserved something better than the half assed attempt I would be giving in our relationship. That and the fact that I probably needed a breath mint.

I needed to remember to breathe, because I was sure that my breath was all over the place, and with the lack of oxygen getting to my head I was afraid I was going to pass out right then and there, smacking my head on the concrete sidewalk. I looked around the area, past the bobbing heads walking and saw a little opening on a park bench. Lunging forward, I smashed myself between an elderly woman fast asleep and a six year old boy with a rather nasty cold. While this seemingly did nothing to help me breathe due to the confined space, at least I was sitting and if I passed out I would be a little more comfortable.

I realized that the woman smelled like a mixture of metal and peppermint as her head tumbled onto my shoulder as she slept and strands of her long grey hair stuck to my face. I blew out a huffy breath, hoping that the air would blow some of her hair off my face, but to no prevail. I glanced at the young boy right next to me, who was coughing up a storm into a very grimy, lilac handkerchief. He saw me looking so I gave him a small, polite smile before he sent me a glare, telling me to back off, as he wiggled closer to his father, who seemed to be arguing very aggressively on the phone with a woman named Linda. Letting out a minuscule sigh, I carefully leaned my back against the bench, careful not the wake the woman to my left.

My eyes burned as I closed them, and the scenes of minutes before replayed in my mind over and over again. How could I have been so oblivious? Why didn't I realize it? Because Nate and I never had any romantic tension between us, and I had grown so comfortable with him I always thought he cared as me as a friend. He'd been my best friend for years, and now suddenly he comes forth with this brand new information and I panic. Maybe I could have handled it better. Maybe if I hadn't run off and instead we talked about it, it would be easier than me fleeing. But I can't change what happened, and the only thing I knew for certain was that my friendship with Nate was soiled, however, to what extent I wasn't sure.

Ring.

I jumped up in my seat at the sudden noise, knocking the old woman's head right off my shoulder and sending the boy next to me in a panic, causing him to let go of the balloon in his right hand. The woman's head went smacking back into my shoulder, with a violent thunk, something I was sure we would both feel tomorrow morning. She awoke to me apologizing profusely, babbling incoherent apologies as I cradled part of her head with my left hand. Looking absolutely startled and flustered, the woman abruptly stood up, murmuring something about the youth before hobbling away with surprising agility. What can I say? We're in New York.

I released a long, shaky breath I hadn't realized I had been holding and leaned back against the wooden bench, fishing out my phone from my pocket as I heard a cough to my right. However, this time it wasn't one of sickness but one that demanded attention, someone clearing their throat. I looked at the little boy next to me, his overalls bulging with tissues coming out of every pocket. He stared at me angrily then looked up at the sky, following his gaze I noticed the blue balloon floating in the atmosphere, slowly beginning to blend in with the color of the early evening sky.

My line of sight returned to the blonde boy, an apologetic smile at my lips when I noticed his face, one contorted into anger and on the verge of tears. Panicked, I glanced around for something, anything to distract the boy from the long stream of tears that were threatening to spill. I even considered making a funny face to get him to stop crying, but this wasn't a three month old baby, but a five or six year old boy; funny faces weren't going to cut it. I considered simply apologizing to the boy and his father, but the choice words escaping the older man's mouth and the vein throbbing in his forehead made me rather concerned for Linda and reconsider that idea.

Seeing a man selling balloons fifteen feet away was a godsend. An absolute miracle, I decided as I reached into my purse, pulling out my wallet and forking over the remaining three bills left to the boy with a nervous smile on my face. "Look, there you can buy some more balloons." I said hastily, looking at the man again to make sure he wasn't just a figment of my imagination.

Without a sound, the boy snatched the three dollars from my clutched fist, tripping over his feet as he rushed over to the vendor. Finally relaxing from the potentially negative situation I watched as the spoiled child pointed up at the sky why rapidly explaining to the man what happened to his old balloon before jamming a chubby finger my way. The man followed the finger and stared at me, and I gave a small, guilty wave to the man who then proceeded to give the boy three balloons. Blue, red, and green.

Putting my wallet back into my purse, a sudden realization hit me. That was all the money left in my wallet and my credit card was currently sitting patiently on the dresser in my bedroom, untouched and forgotten about until just now. Normally, I wouldn't be too worried, because this was New York and everyone walked around in New York. But, I didn't know really where I was and from what I did know, it was way too far to walk to walk back home. I was screwed.

The blonde haired boy returned seconds later, a grin plastered across his face as he dumped three filthy nickels into the palm of my hand. How expensive were balloons exactly? I sent the boy a questioning gaze.

He merely shrugged, blowing his nose again before opening his mouth, "Taxes."

I sighed, turning in the opposite direction and thought about what to do. I had fifteen cents and a little lint in my purse to get me back home. Overall, not a great day.

Ring.

Fantastic, yet another incoming call from Nate. Would this make the tenth call? I honestly considered throwing my phone into the street before I rejected the call again.

"You know your phone just rang." The little boy pointed out, sniffling.

I nodded, my hair falling in my face. "I know."

He stared at me, perplexed before he tried again, "That means someone is trying to call you." He said it slowly, mockingly and the sudden urge to strangle to boy seemed like a good idea.

"I know that." I snapped a little more irritably than I intended to, but the kid wasn't fazed.

"So, you're avoiding someone, aren't you?"

I sighed, wondering what the odds were that if I ignored him he'd just go away.

"Something like that," I murmured after a few seconds in silence.

He nodded, brown eyes wondering before he blew his nose for an elongated amount of time. Preparing myself for a hard hitting question, I shuddered.

"Cool." The boy with hair the color of lemons said simply.

"Cool." I repeated and we both fell into silence, both of us listening to the father exchanging passionate insults with Linda.

Before long the boy and his father stood up and went home, leaving me alone on the bench, wishing the kid was still next to me for some sort of company. I huffed out a large breath of air, before pulling my phone out of my pocket; I was going to have to make some calls.

Ignoring the eight voicemails, I proceeded to call Tori, hoping that she and Ash weren't too busy with their new apartment to pick up the phone. But alas, the phone went to voicemail and I hung up. This time, I decided to call Simon; he picked up on the third ring.

"Why isn't it my dear friend, Chloe Saunders," A voice laughed on the other end of the phone, a high pitched giggle in the background.

"Hey, Simon." I mumbled into the receiver, "Are you home?"

"No, Liz and I are heading up to visit her grandma," I closed my eyes in despair. "We told you last night, but you were a little tipsy."

I rolled my eyes, "I wasn't tipsy, besides you were drunk."

Simon let out a laugh. "That might've been the case, but I'm pretty sure we told you." Liz mumbled something to Simon and they both laughed. Recovering from their laughing fit, Simon returned to the phone. "Anyways, what's up Chloe?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "Do you know if Derek's home?"

"At six on a Saturday night? Of course he is." Simon said, and I could visualize the smile taking over his face. I grinned.

"That would be the logical inference," I said with a small smile. "You get back to whatever you were doing. Bye, Simon."

"Bye, Chloe." He and Liz said in unison as I clicked the end call button. Only one person left to call, and I really didn't want to call him.

With a deep breath, my finger landed over his contact name and the phone dialed. Picking up on the second ring an irritated voice answered.

"What?" Derek barked on the other end of the line.

"Derek, it's Chloe," I said nervously.

"Yeah, I know," I could practically hear his eyes roll. "Now what is it?"

"I'm sort of needing a favor." I squeaked out, my breaths becoming more and more shallow.

"I'm studying." Derek grumbled as I heard him scribbling away at his notes.

"I-I know and I'm sorry but I need yo-your help." I stuttered out, the sky getting darker by the second.

His tone grew more serious. "What's going on? Are you with Nate?"

I stilled, and took a deep breath before answering, "No, I'm not with Nate."

Derek sighed in frustration. "Why not? What's going on, Chloe?"

"Nate and I, uh," I struggled to find the right word to explain the scenario calmly, "we, uh, had a disagreement."

Derek's voice seemed almost an octave lower, "What kind of disagreement, Chloe?"

I ignored his question, "I need you to come pi-pick me up."

"Pick you up? Chloe-," I cut him off.

"Listen, Derek. I don't have any money on me and it's too far to walk and I need you t-to come pick me up." I said firmly into the cell phone and was greeted with silence on the other end.

"Chloe," He began.

"Please, Derek." I said finally, hoping that the urgency in my voice conveyed the message that I didn't want to speak about what happened between me and Nate and I just needed him to come pick me up.

"Give me the street name." Derek said finally, his voice gruff and low.

Letting out a breath of relief, I smiled into the phone as I craned my neck to find the name of the street before reporting back to him.

"Thanks, Derek." I mumbled into the phone, "I really appreciate this, you know."

He grunted something unintelligible before clearing his throat again. "I'll be there soon." I heard the dangling of keys and a door close on the other line, he was leaving right away.

And with that, he disconnected the call and I leaned back in my seat, a small grin permanently plastered across my cheeks. My cheeks were slightly pink and I could feel the heat radiating off my body. Seconds later my phone immediately ringed. Thinking it was Derek calling for more information I rapidly picked up. It wasn't Derek.

"Chloe," A voice breathed before I could even let out a sound. Nate.

"Nate, I need to be left alone right now." I said, my fingers digging deep into my hair, instantly regretting picking up the phone in the first place.

"Chloe, we need to talk. Are you home?" His voice slurred slightly at the end, rushing his question together.

Choosing to ignore my location at the moment, I spoke again. "Nate, not now, I'm hanging up, alright?"

"No, Chloe!" Nate nearly shouted on the other line, but I was already clicking the end call button. I slumped against the bench, my head firmly in my hands. This could not be happening. All this could not be happening. Stuff like this only happened in the movies, right? I just needed some space, and Nate should know that by now.

Fifteen minutes went by without interruption, and knowing that Derek should be arriving soon I decided to stand up and walk for a bit, my legs stiff from the sitting. The venue was being held in an outdoor arena next to a large park, where families were strolling around and feeding the ducks. Stretching my back I stood up and walked closer to the street, hoping to see Derek once he arrived.

Suddenly there was a firm hand gripping my shoulder painfully, yanking me around to face the person. Completely startled by the person clutching my shoulder for dear life I glanced up at their face and was hit with the smell of alcohol laced breath.

"Chloe," The person mumbled, the smell of alcohol momentarily halting me.

Nate.

I forced myself free of his tight hold, relieving the strain of my shoulder as I took two steps back. "Nate, please."

My two steps backwards brought him three steps closer, as if this were a dance.

"Chloe, I don't think you get it," He let out a snarl of a laugh, "I wasn't trying to intimidate you or anything back there."

I pushed myself back, "I knew what you were going to do, Nate." I brushed the hair out of my face before crossing my arms over my chest.

"No, you don't or else you wouldn't have left." Nate's voice raised, his eyes widening significantly. He clamped his hand down on my wrist this time, bringing my hand closer to his chest. I quickly pulled it away.

"Nate, please don't touch me," I begged, however my voice was stronger than I expected it to be.

"Chloe, please," He said, urgency seeping into his tone. "Chloe, we make sense, alright? We're perfect for each other."

My eyes widened, and I took another step back. "Nate, I don't think this is a good idea." I begged for him to understand that this, whatever this was, was one sided and that I didn't want it. "Please don't force this."

Nate's eyes searched mine, "Chloe, you make me so happy." His voice was soft and he inched closer.

Guilt coursed through my heart as I glanced down at the ground, unsure as to what to say next. Suddenly his hand was firm on my waist, causing my head to snap up in surprise.

"Nate, don't touch me!" My voice was loud and unwavering as I pushed with all my strength to just get away from him. He released me from his grip and I went tumbling backwards before straightening myself up.

"Nate, it's not going to happen, it's over. I'm sorry." I began turning away to walk in the opposite direction, my chest heaving with every breath when he yet again turned me back around roughly.

"You've been drinking, Nate." I said urgently, each second making me more and more afraid, unsure as to why no one around us seemed to notice my struggle.

"It's not over," Nate's face ducked closer to mine, I moved my head in the opposite direction. "Not until I say so."

This was crazy, it must be some sort of a dream, because this would never happen. I knew Nate, he was my best friend, and he wouldn't do anything to ever hurt me, would he? But here he was, grabbing both my shoulders and pressuring me into this.

Like hell.

Without a moment's hesitation and my desperation to get away, my hand went flying into his cheek, the sound of the smack resonating through the air. His jaw fell open at my action and his hands on my shoulders slackened, allowing me to pull away completely.

"I said don't touch me." I told him determinedly, before turning around and walking in the opposite direction with a new found confidence. That is until I saw Derek standing five feet away, an angry expression controlling his face, before slowly taking one step at a time towards me.

"Derek," I exhaled, his green eyes piercing my blue ones.

"Are you alright?" Derek's voice was low, the grumble sobering me up to what had just happened. His eyes searched mine, his deep black hair teasing against his forehead, tempting me to brush it back. He was careful not to touch me as his dark brows flicked upward in concern and nearly everything faded around us, but reality brought me back once again. Once I let out a shaky nod, he moved forward to Nate.

He looked just about ready to do what I had just done, but instead he glared at Nate with such intensity, a snarl at his lips. "Don't touch her again."

If looks could kill, Nate would be buried ten feet under right about now.

But Nate was drunk, obviously not thinking clearly as he opening his mouth and spat right at Derek's feet.

Shit.

Derek's jaw worked painfully, his emerald lit with an intense wrath that I had never seen before as his right hand fingers slowly clenched together to make a fist that hung limp at his side. I watched the scene unveil before my eyes, unsure as to whether I should jump in or not. Derek swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat as his face slackened slightly. My eyes darted to his clamped hand as he slowly unclasped his massive fist, each finger stiff and rigid against his side. I could practically hear him count down from ten in his head to just get him to relax, to calm down and approach this situation rationally. His hands made their way deep into his pockets as if to avoid causing any violence as he leaned back on his heels.

While his body was now in a calm, nonthreatening position, his expression was grim. His eyes cutting into Nate like knives as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Don't touch her again." His voice was an octave lower, his tone sending a shiver down my back. "Her body, her rules."

"I-" Nate began before Derek cut him off, taking a risky step closer to Nate, but his hands still remained in his pockets.

"Don't." Derek warned once more, a voice that would send an army into battle.

Nate seemed to sober up at the gravity of this situation as Derek stared down at his menacingly, the height difference painfully obvious. Nate blinked twice before I took three step forwards, standing directly next to Derek, about to pull him away from Nate.

Nate stared at me and his rust colored hair gleamed in the setting sun, his blue eyes widening in painful realization. "I'm sorry, Chloe," He choked out softly.

I didn't forgive him, I didn't make a move to accept his apology; instead I nodded, acknowledging his guilt and his sorrow for what had transpired.

"Goodbye, Nate," I said as I pulled Derek away from the scene and towards the busy Manhattan street.

And I had a feeling that it really was goodbye.

...

"Thanks again," I said softly, my voice filling up the entire cab, my eyes downcast on my lap, watching my fingers dance on my thighs. I felt Derek shrug next to me, silently telling me that a thanks wasn't needed, and that he only did what was needed to be done.

"Chloe," He began, "What happened back there?"

I sighed, knowing that he would ask the inevitable question sooner than later. I had just been hoping that it was later, which would then become never. But, Derek was trying to be patient with me, and god knows that is not his strong-suit.

I took in a deep breath and the words left my mouth. "Nate tried to ki-kiss me." I felt Derek still next to me, his body rigid as he held his breath waiting for me to finish. "S-so I ran a-away. A-and then I called you. Th-then Nate found m-me and he was drunk and he g-grabbed me. And I sl-slapped him." I finished, reliving the memories from mere fifteen minutes before.

Derek exhaled slowly once I finished, his line of sight directly forward at the worn passenger headrest of the taxi. "He kissed you?" I couldn't place his tone, his voice was calm, but there was some unknown edge hidden in his words.

"No, I ran a-way." I assured him as my fingers pressed deeper into my lap.

"Good." This time it was a different, undetectable tone.

"Good?"

Derek cleared his throat, finally removing his gaze from the seat in front of him. "Yeah, or else he might have thought you were interested and it could have been worse."

"I'm not. Interested, I mean," I said far too quickly, my cheeks reddening with every word. "I'm not interested in Nate." I repeated, hoping to sound more cool and collected, but if Derek had noticed what I said before he certainly paid it no mind. I blushed even further, focusing my gaze on the opposite window, staring at the onlooking traffic.

"I'm hungry," Derek said finally, after an elongated silence in the cab.

I grinned. "I know a great bakery."

...

"No thanks, I'm good." I said as Derek and I stood in line at the bakery. Derek rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms across his chest, staring intensely at the large menu hanging in the bakery.

"Hurry up and decide," Derek murmured, completely ignoring my previous comment, eyes never once leaving the menu.

"I told you I'm not hungry," I insisted once more, giving him a nudge so he'd listen to me. And in that exact moment, something absolutely terrible occurred; my body betrayed my brain and my stomach growled in hunger, protesting against my words.

"Yeah, you're not hungry," Derek agreed sarcastically, eyeing me with a hint of humor in his eyes. I grinned back at him, until the man behind us cleared his throat, indicating that the line had moved forward. Reaching the cashier, Derek placed his order carefully.

"Anything else?" The brown haired man asked us.

"Yeah," I squeaked out, stepping closer to the man. "Can I have a brownie, please?"

He nodded, jutting our orders down into the system before handing Derek a receipt.

"I'll pay you back," I assured Derek, glancing up at him with a half smile.

He rolled his eyes. "It's a brownie."

I nodded. "Yeah but you've been paying for me a lot lately and that's not okay," I stared up at him. "Unless you're talking about paying my rent."

Derek gave me a look.

"Joke," I grinned at him. "It was a joke."

He rolled his eyes again, but his lip perked upwards, and my stomach did some sort of Irish jig and I had to look away before...

Before I let it get too far. He was my roommate, Chloe.

Suddenly remember my fifteen cents, I fished into purse and retrieving those three silver nickels from the little boy earlier.

"Think of it as an investment," I said, dropping the coins gently into Derek's palm. He glanced down at me, shaking his head with a smirk perched on his face before running his hand through his hair. I had to look away again; this was becoming a dangerous game.

Derek grabbed the pastries from the cashier and we made a beeline for the only remaining booth. Relaxing into the worn leather cushions of the seats Derek and I sorted through the little bags of pastries, properly distributing them between the two of us.

"Did you sell them out for the day?" I teased lightly, "That's a lot of food."

Derek shrugged, chomping down into his first pastry, an apple strudel. "I told you I was hungry."

I sighed, letting my head fall onto my palm as I propped my head up. "Yeah, but this is seriously tempting me."

"Well," Derek mumbled in between bites. "You could have gotten anything but you chose the brownie."

"Hey," I said, grinning lightly at him. "This is a great brownie."

Derek nodded with a scoff, "Yeah, I'm sure that all that powdered sugar is really filling."

"It really is," I played along, taking another bite of the delicious chocolate brownie.

"Speaking of which, you've got some on your face." Derek pointed to the side of his mouth, to mirror where the powdered sugar on my mouth was. Blushing, I quickly wiped the back of my hand across my mouth, hoping that all the sugar was gone.

Derek looked exasperated. "You made it worse."

I gaped at him. "Worse? I doubt I could have made it worse." I said, wiping at my mouth again.

"Now it's smudged," Derek groaned, leaning forward in his seat, his face less than a foot away from mine.

"What are you doing?" I asked quickly. my cheeks heating up, and my head felt like a volcano about to erupt any second.

"Just stay still," Derek murmured as he brought his hand up to wipe the rest of the sugar away. His palm cupped the side of my face as his thumb brushed the corner of my lip carefully and achingly slow, leaving a slow burn fire were his fingers trailed. And Derek's whole face changed completely and instead of eyes focusing on the sugar they were on my eyes. His stare held my gaze, his emerald eyes reflecting the light of the bakery's overhead lights. But his eyes held a different kind of light too, one that I had never seen before, but one I wanted to see again so, so badly. He was definitely closer than he was a second ago. He's not supposed to be this close, is he? I mean I could feel a shallow breath hit my left cheek. And the flipping sensation in my stomach returned and I couldn't breathe.

No, I really couldn't breathe. I was choking on the brownie.

I began coughing and hacking, forcing Derek to pull away as I doubled over, trying desperately to clear my wind pipe. Derek began tapping my back, to help with the coughing/choking fit before slowly my breathing became shallow breaths and I began to relax. I glanced at Derek sheepishly, my face almost blue from the lack of oxygen, which, I'm sure was really attractive.

Derek handed me his water bottle.

I know that that last part was extremely stereotypical and annoying but you know what? I don't care, I kinda liked it. And I hope you guys really appreciated the little twist at the end, because it was definitely fun to come up with. Okay, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thought that it was a little cute or interesting. Don't worry, the future chapters will be a lot fluffier than this one. And I also just want to address the whole Nate/Chloe/Derek situation. I was thinking about having a fight scene between Nate and Derek, but I thought that it would have been way too stereotypical and it would have made me annoyed to even write it. I also didn't necessarily want Derek to come to Chloe's aid and protect her by getting in a fight with Nate, because she's a strong female character that isn't helpless and reliant on Derek. So to me, it was really important to incorporate Chloe slapping Nate and Derek not getting physical and respecting Chloe. So I'm sorry if anyone didn't like the way it planned out, but I wouldn't have been happy if I had written it any other way.

Also, at this point I'm not exactly planning to add Nate back into the story anytime soon, unless I get requests for it. If I do get requests to incorporate Nate back into the storyline, then I will! But, suggestions for that would be greatly appreciated.

I just want to thank the readers of this story, the views I get really inspire me to continue writing this story, so thank you so much for reading and you're heart warming reviews, I read every single one. If anyone has any suggestions or predictions about future chapters I would love to hear them in the reviews or you can private message me anytime you want.

Thanks again for reading this story!

Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review!

Thanks, Bridget