"Hey Allison, wake up. We need to talk to you", I groan and roll to my other side and slowly open my eyelids.

"Julian, it's midnight. Can we talk about it in the morning, please?", I reply groggily and Alex sighs and pulls off the blanket.

"We wouldn't wake you up if this weren't important Al. So get up and go wash you're face, right now", Alex almost yells at me. I quickly get off the bed and head to the bathroom. I splash water on my face, brush my teeth and go out. The both of them are sitting on my bed, lost in their own thoughts. I clear my throat and their heads snap towards me.

"Come and sit here Al", Julian says, patting the space between two of them.

"I'm sorry that I yelled at you before. It wasn't intentional", Alex says, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's okay Alex. Now please tell me what has happened", I look at both of them and I'm sure they can see the eagerness in my eyes. Julian takes my hand in his and sighs and looks at Alex, who looks a little scared and that tells me what they are going to talk about or much better who they're gonna tell me about.

"Max was last seen in the town next to ours. They think he knows about our location", finally the elephant in the room is addressed and I can feel myself being frozen. I just look at him but I cannot get the words out of my mouth. They both stare at me with a worried expression and Julian holds my hand tighter in his. But the thing is, I can't feel it. I cannot feel a thing. It's like, I'm buried inside the ice and I can't move my body or speak. I feel scared as hell and I'm terrified to even make a sound. It's like, my brain thinks that if make any kind of noise, he'll find me and kill me just like he did with my parents.Aftee a few minutes, I finally form words in my mind and try to say them out loud.

"But last week you said he was in our hometown", I whisper with a noticeable terror in my voice.

"Yes but we don't know how and who told him about our location. We are trying to locate him but it's like he vanished from the face of the earth. We can't track him down", Julian says and somthing clicks.

"You knew this for a few days, didn't you? And you couldn't have told me earlier?!", I yell and get up from the bed, shaking off Julian's hand.

"Allison, we need you to calm down. We are going to take care of you. You're going to be fine", Alex says while he tries to stop me from pacing. I shake him off too and continue pacing, my breathing becoming more and more laboured my the second.

"She's having a panic attack", Alex exclaims and before he could say anything else, I loose consciousness and fall straight into my brother's arms who seems to have taken up to yelling as his favorite thing now.

"She's fine. The panic attack lead her to loose consciousness. She'll be up in a few. I'll prescribe some meds for her to take. If the panic attacks return, you need to get her checked out", says the doctor who Alex must have called. I can feel someone running their hand through my hair. Its soothing and calms me down.

"Thank you so much doctor", Julian says.

"Al, can you hear me baby? Please open your eyes for me baby girl". I open my eyes and see Alex smiling through his tears. His face is red because of all the crying. He looks like a orangutan but I wouldn't say that out loud.

"Tears aren't your thing Alex", I say and wipe his tears with back of my hand. He smiles at me and hugs me as gently as he could.

"You scared the shit out of me Al. Don't you ever do that again", he says and I can feel my shoulder getting wet.

"No promises brother", I reply which finally earns me a chuckle from him.

"I'll leave you both alone but don't you dare touch my baby girl, young man", he says. This makes me whip my head back and I finally notice Ashton, in all his glory, looking at me. He gives me that smile which melts me and then looks back at Alex with a smug face.

"No promises brother", he copies my words and I laugh out loud at him trying to imitate me.

"That so doesn't sound like me Ashton", I say while laughing and the three of them look at me and smile.

"Yeah it doesn't. Because you're unique and no one can be like you", Ashton says and I blush hard while those two idiots holler and make kissing noises.

"You two out, right now", I order them while smacking Alex with a pillow.

"We are leaving, alright. I don't want to hear any noises though", Julian says on his way out and I launch a pillow at him which he manages to dodge.

"You feeling better? I came as soon as Alex called me", Ashton says, engulfing me in his arms.

"I'm fine now", I sigh and smell his cologne which I love so much.

"They told me what happened", his words bring back the reason why I had a panic attack.

"I'm sure they did", that's all I manage to say.

"We are gonna take care of everything. You're going to be safe, okay?"

"We? You're not getting involved in this. I have said this before Ashton", I let go of him and stand up. I can't let him come in between this. And I won't.

"I know I said something about not getting involved in this, but I am taking my words back. I cannot not get involved in this. It's important to me that you are safe from that psychopath", he says while running his hand through his hair, tugging at the roots in frustration. I know this is bugging him, but I want him to not get involved for his own good. I don't want any harm to come to him or anyone else.

"If you don't want to listen to me then do whatever the hell you want. You wanna be included in whatever plan they're making so be it. But I see even a small scratch, then I'm going to kill you myself, understand?", I say this while looking him in the eyes so he knows that I'm extremely serious about this. A smile lits up his face and he nods his head in agreement and kisses me. I kiss him back and pouring all my emotions in it.

We somehow end up on the bed with him on top of me, kissing the sensitive spot on my neck. I wrap my legs around him and push my hands through his T-shirt and feel his abs. He stills for a second but continues kissing me. He looks at me as if asking for permission to touch me and I can see the look of pure awe and love in his eyes. I nod my head and his hand gently pushes my top higher and he fingertips graze my stomach. His fingers feel every inch of my lower abdomen and all I could do was look at him. The way he looked awed while looking at my not so perfect stomach. He traced the stretch marks with his fingers and told me how much he loved all of my imperfections.

As I was about to take his T-shirt off my asshole of a brother opens the door and catches us in this compromising position.

"What the fuck?!", Alex looks shocked before he turns around and slaps his hands over his eyes like a child who caught his parents in the act.

"Please tell me you're dressed Al, I don't want to be scarred for life", he says, his voice terrified.

I laugh and sit up and launch a pillow at him which hits him right on the back of his head.

"You've the worst timing ever", I say while Ashton chuckles making Alex groan out loud.

"More like, the right time. I came here to tell you that the brunch is ready. Come down after taking a shower. Ashton you are coming with me right now", he exclaims and leaves while slamming the door behind me. We both laugh at his childishness and Ash leaves after giving me a kiss on the forehead.

After taking a shower and changing into fresh clothes, I go down and the smell of pancakes and waffles hits me.

"Smells good in here", I say as I enter the kitchen where the three of them abruptly stop talking.

"What's wrong?", I ask suspiciously.

"Nothing. Just boy talks, you know", Julian says but I see right through them. I know these guys very well and I think I have an idea about what they were talking about.

"You were talking about Max, weren't you?" Alex sighs and motions me to sit down on the chair.

"Yeah we were. We think it's better for us to relocate. Max was seen in the neighbouring town. I don't want to take any risk regarding your safety or anyone else's around here", Alex tells me the so called plan they made, which is always the same.

"I'm not going to relocate", I say firmly and all of them have the shocked expression on their faces.

"What?! You're going to relocate and that's it", Alex says with authority.

"I said no! I won't relocate!"

"Why the hell not?!", Alex shouts at me and Julian holds him by his shoulders to calm him.

"Because I finally have a normal fucking life! I don't want to flee from here just because that psychopath is here somewhere. I would rather face him than running away from him. Because of me many innocent girls were murdered. I can't take this anymore! If he wants to kill me, then I'll face him with as much courage as I can muster", I yell while the tears were streaming down my face.

"Calm down baby", Ashton holds me while Alex breathes fire and Julian has a proud look on his face.

"I think she's right. If we continue running away from him then he'll kill many more innocent girls. Maybe if we stay put, he'll come here and we could catch him before he could harm Allie", Julian says and Alex's head snaps towards him.

"You want to use my sister as a bait for that asshole?! How fucking dare you Julian?! Of all the people, I expected support from you!"

"A bait?! No Alex. You're taking this the wrong way. And you're forgetting that she's my sister as well! I wouldn't want any harm to come to her. I love her just as much as you do. It's just that, instead of relocating maybe if we stay here, we'll be able to catch him faster. He's close so it would easier to locate him as we know the area well. Ashton is willingly ready to help us so it could be easier. But if we suspect any danger, we move her immediately", Julian voices his opinion and I'm grateful that we both are on the same page. Ashton too looks a little convinced but Alex just shrugs off Julian's hold and leaves the house.

"I know he'll come around. Just give him time to cool off. He's convinced already just worried about you, that's all", saying so he too leaves to probably go after an enraged Alex.

"What do you think?", I ask Ashton who's staring at the wall ever since Alex left.

"Honestly, I'm not completely convinced about this but we could give it a shot if Alex agrees. If we go with this, you'll, have to be with at least one of us all the time and I'm going to teach you self defense. And you have no say in this. I need to know that, if by any chance we are not with you, you are more than capable of defending yourself", he says and I nod my head in approval. I can deal with all this if I get to stay here.

"Okay I agree. I'm glad you and Julian are on board with this. Alex will need some convincing but he'll understand".

"Yeah he will. He cares about you more than anything else".

"I know", as I was about to ask him to kiss me, Alex comes in and with huge strides, hugs me to him. His hold tightens with every second but it never hurts. He knows me like the back of his hand.

"Fine. We can stay here but you're going to stay with at least one of us at all times and self defense classes from tomorrow and this is not negotiable, understand?", I look at Ashton and start laughing.

"Sure thing Alex. Whatever you say", I say while laughing and Alex looks confused.

"Ashton said the same things just before you came back", I tell him and he just smiles.

"We three of us can teach you, right boys?", Alex asks and the other two smirk at me and this makes me gulp loudly making the three monkeys laugh.

"Don't worry, we won't be that rough on ya", Julian says while ruffling my hair.

"Let's order something to eat now. Chinese?", Ashton asks and the three boys start discussing the whole damn menu that none of us would be able to eat. These people are the ones who are the most important to me. I'm glad that Ashton and my brothers get along. I still don't want Ashton to get involved in this, but I can't stop him anymore.

"What do you guys think about Thai food?"

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A/N

Phew! Longest chapter ever! I hope you guys like it.

So, Max is close. Do you think they'll be able to catch him?

Stay tuned to get all the answers.

Till the next time, see you guys!

Love you!