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Somehow, Ana had managed to sweet talk her older brother into letting her leave work a little early. Her parents had asked her to stick around and help him close, but he'd taken pity on her and told her that she could head out when the bulk of their customers had left. In doing so, he'd earned himself a huge kiss on the cheek. It wasn't normal for her to get so excited, but he'd merely given her a strange look and shrugged it off.

As far as he knew, she was planning to spend the night with a friend from school. Regardless of what their parents had said, he hadn't wanted to keep her from the slumber party. After all, he understood the desire to act like a kid when you were a kid. Little did he know, though, the slumber party she'd mentioned several times through out the evening wasn't really a party at all. It was the alibi she'd given her family so that she could spend the entire night with her male best friend.

It had been a few weeks since they'd kissed for the first time, and things had definitely progressed since then. Unfortunately, the universe was against them, and they hadn't been able to do much more without being interrupted by a phone call or a knock at the door. She was hoping that tonight would be different.

Ana hummed to herself as she made her way to the house that Chandler shared with his father and brothers. She knew that it would be a little while before he could get off of work, but she told herself that she could hang out in his room until he got home. Once she got there, hanging out transformed into her laying in his bed as she read one of the books that had been stacked beside it.

Sometime later, her phone vibrated, and a slight smile moved over her features when she read the text she'd received. im sorry i love you. A quick glance at the time told her that he was running a little late, but she quickly texted back to ask why he was apologizing. When that text went unanswered, she sent another one... then another one... then several more. She was nearly in a panic when she heard a phone ring in another room. The conversation was muffled, of course, but the tone of the call caused her to worry even more.

She was stepping back into her jeans as she stumbled out into the hall. She didn't have far to go, though, because Kit was already coming her way. The expression on his face was enough.

"What happened?" she questioned automatically. "Where's Chand?"

--

Several hours later, she was sitting in a hospital room.

Chandler had been mugged. At least, that's what they were being told. No one knew the full story, though, because he'd been unconscious since they'd found him. Her fingers toyed nervously with the edge of the blanket that had been draped over him, and she was on the verge of tears.

They'd found him in an alley. He'd been laying in an alley... alone... hurt... and texting her to apologize for not making it home. It didn't make sense to her. He'd had no business going into some alley. They'd had plans. He was supposed to have been coming straight home to get in bed with her.

"So help me," she grumbled under her breath, "if Donovan had anything to do with this, I'll kill him."