I am so sorry that it took me so long to update. I was slowly freaking out about finals. (Who needs biology anyways? J) Now that it is summer, I am going to be able to update much more often. I would like to give a little shout out to Iwant9lives2live because they were the very first reviewer I had. YAY! I hope that you like the next chapter and please please review.

After we finished explaining Valentina looked furious with us. One look at her face made that pretty clear. "Valentina please don't be mad at them. It's all my fault. I'm the one who-" I tried to explain.

"They know better to leave you alone!" Alek and Jasmine didn't say anything in their defense. "Chloe, let me see your foot." She came over and knelt beside me. With a very quick motion she straightened my ankle. I let out a little cry. "It's definitely broken." I could've told her that much. "How could you let this happened?"

"I'm sorry mom. I should've been with her." Jasmine was just going to stand there and take the blame? It was my fault in the first place.

"Alek and Jasmine saved my life. Without them Scarface creep would've killed me. They're the reason why I'm alive."

"No. They're the reason why you're here. If they were protecting you in the first place, then this wouldn't have happened."

"I'm the reason why this happened, not them. I wanted to go for a run by myself to clear my head. I didn't wait for them to follow me." I explained.

"Chloe, have I not stressed the importance of being careful? There are many people who would wish to harm the Uniter." Yeah, it was apparently way to much to ask for one simple night. No protectors, or training. No horrible scar face creep trying to kill me. Her cell phone rang before she said anything else. "This is important. I have to take it." She turned to stare at Jasmine. "Under no circumstances can you leave this apartment." And with that she left.

As soon as the door closed Jasmine and Alek started moving. Jasmine went over to the cupboard and pulled out Advil and bandages while Alek came over by me and cleaned the dried blood off my foot. It was dead quiet in the apartment as they worked. Before I knew it, my leg was fully bandaged, as well as my arm. Jasmine took out her phone and left into the other room.

"She's right you know." Alek said quietly. "You can't go off by yourself like that. It's too dangerous. We should've been with you. If we were, then this wouldn't have happened. It's our fault."

"You can't blame yourselves. You couldn't have known that I was going off by myself without telling you."

"Why did you leave?" Alek asked.

"No reason. I just wanted to be by myself for once." I was always surrounded by people guarding me, it started to feel like I was suffocating.

"You know that's not an option anymore Chloe. It's too dangerous." Alek said softly. "You always need someone looking out for you."

"So I'm just going to have to been watched every single moment of every single day?" I asked furiously. Sitting up, I took two pain killers, and hoped it would help the pain.

"If that is what it takes to keep you safe, then yes. You know the assassin wont leave you alone until he's dead. And even if we do manage to kill him, there will still be others who would want to harm you." Alek said as he sat down on the sofa next to me.

I knew I was going to lose this argument, just like I had all the other times we had it, but I couldn't let it go. I didn't want any of this. I hated the idea that I had protectors that would die to protect me, everyone around me was in danger.

"You can't protect me forever." The thought of dying again scared me so much.

"We can't not protect you." Alek stated as stared at my bandaged leg.

"Being around me is too dangerous." If Alek wasn't Mai, then he wouldn't have even heard me, but he was so he did. His eyes quickly shot back up to mine.

"You don't really believe that, do you?"

"Look at the facts," I declared, "Xavier died because I kissed him. Jasmine got a knife thrown in her back because she tried to stop it from hitting me. You and Jasmine just risked your safety to keep me away from-"

"Chloe," He interrupted, "It's not your fault. Nothing is your fault so stop blaming yourself." As he said that, he brushed his fingertips against mine. He didn't move them away from my hand though, instead they just lingered on top of mine.

When I opened my mouth to protest he interrupted again. "Chloe, it is not your fault that the Order decided to go after you." I knew that he was just trying to make me feel better, but I was still worked up. He paused for a moment before continuing. "You need to relax. You're safe for now." Saying that I need to relax is a little harder than actually relaxing.

"And you're not relaxing." He noted. I was tempted to whack him, but I didn't. Without another word he got up and went to the freezer and pulled out some ice-cream. "I highly doubt that ice cream is going to make everything better, but it can't hurt anything."

"I don't want any." The thought of eating something made my stomach go into knots. Alek of course ignored me and gave me a huge bowlful anyways.

"It's not poisoned." Alek joked. I tried to smile back, but all I managed was something that wasn't a frown. With a sigh, Alek put down his ice cream and reached for mine. "Close your eyes." He told me.

"What?"

"Just do it." I closed my eyes skeptically. I heard Alek get up and stand behind the couch. "Focus on your breathing, and nothing else."

"Is this some sort of yoga technique?" I asked as I started to open my eyes.

"Just keep your eyes closed and focus." Deciding that it would take less time if I just did what he asked, I closed my eyes. "Take deep, slow breaths. Don't think about anything else." How is this thing helping? "Now concentrate on the ticking clock. Don't hear anything but the clock."

"Alek, I don't think I-"

"You can." I focused in on the sound, but ended up listening to something else; Alek's heartbeat. The slow, calm heartbeat of Alek instantly smoothed me. I don't know how long we were there for; it could've been for a minute, or an hour. "Did it work?" My eyes shot open, and I saw Alek leaning above me.

"Thanks." I said, hoping my cheeks weren't flaming red.

"Anytime." He pulled away and went to go sit on the other couch.

"Sorry about that guys, I had to make a few phone calls." Jasmine said as she walked back into the room.

Grabbing my cell phone from the table next to me, I saw that it was already almost nine. "I have to go. My mom is going to freak soon if I don't come home."

"You heard my mom. She doesn't want any of us to leave the apartment." Jasmine spoke for the first time since her mom left. "Besides, how are you going to explain that to your mom?" She pointed to my leg.

I thought about it for a moment, and came up with nothing. "So what am I going to do? If I don't come home soon, she'll freak and call the cops."

"Call her and say your staying at my place." Figuring that there was no other option I dialed.

"Chloe. Where have you been? I haven't heard from you all day!" I stared at Jasmine. What was our cover story?

"I'm sorry mom. Jasmine…" Jasmine what? I should've thought about this before I called. "Jasmine caught her boyfriend cheating on her today, so I've been with her." Cheating? Really?

"Oh that poor thing. I didn't even realize she had a boyfriend." Alek was slowly cracking up and Jasmine looked like she was ready to smack the phone out of my hand.

"Yeah, she's pretty devastated about it. I was wondering if I could stay at her house tonight. Kind of like a girls night. She could really use it."

"Of course." Yes! The story actually worked. "Wait a minute. Is Bed Boy going to be there as well?" My cheeks started to turn bright red, and Alek started to laugh even harder.

"No mom. He has a basketball game tonight and it's an away game."

"Okay then. Make sure to call me in the morning." We said our good byes and then hung up.

"She calls me Bed Boy? That is hilarious." Ignoring him I turned to Jasmine.

"How long do I have to stay here? Sooner or later my mom is going to want me home." I told her.

"Until my mother says it's safe I guess." Oh joy.