My Everything - Seth & Amber (20 page)

Chelle looked meaningfully at the
quickly-returning guys, then at Amber, and mouthed, “See?” She may
not have used her voice, but Amber could hear the infusion of
I-Told-You-So tone that would have filled it if she had.

Amber smiled as she looked up to see the new
arrivals and her gaze landed and locked on Seth’s crystal blue
eyes. The intensity in his stare caused the hairs on her arm to
stand straight up as goose bumps rose on her skin.

He was so gorgeous. All the Sloan men were
good looking, each had their own individual charm. But in Amber’s
mind what set Seth apart – aside from her insane attraction to him
– was his
presence
. It was compelling.

From the second she had met him in the bar,
he had commanded her attention. Whenever he was close, she was
hyper aware of him, whether they were alone or in the middle of a
crowd of people. The instant she saw him she got goose bumps, she
blushed, her nipples hardened.

After sharing a passionate kiss with Katie,
Jason grabbed some bottles of water from the fridge and handed them
to his brothers. He turned to Amber, “How are things at Bella? No
more incidents since the car?”

“Nope, everything’s been pretty quiet.” Amber
kept wrapping the plates, moving her arms in front of her t-shirt,
trying to hide her body’s reaction to Seth.

“How did it go at the police station? Katie
said you weren't able to identify the guy who did it,” Jason
continued.

“No, I’ve never seen him before. When they
showed me the tape, it was a little disturbing, though. It’s odd to
see someone destroy your property. Plus, he just looked so
angry
.” A chill ran down Amber’s spine as the scene of the
man smashing her windows with a baseball bat flashed in her
mind.

“I wish you would have told me you were
going,” Katie said, “I would have gone with you.”

“Oh, I was fine,” Amber tried to blow it
off.

“I could have gotten someone to stay with Mya
and gone with you, too. I hate thinking about you facing that
alone,” Chelle said as she reached across the table and patted
Amber’s hand.

“I wasn’t alone. It was fine, really, guys.
Really.” Amber just wanted this conversation dropped. Now.

She had finished wrapping the plates so
quickly that she had to move on to wrap the glasses. She wasn’t
looking but she felt everyone’s eyes on her. She just planned on
ignoring it until the conversation naturally moved on.

“Who was there?” Chelle asked.

“Officer Williams,” Amber replied
quickly.

“No, we mean who went with you?” Katie
clarified.

Oh for the love of Pete. Why couldn’t any of
the Sloans, whether by birth or marriage, ever drop anything?

“I did,” Seth’s clipped tone made it clear he
did not welcome follow-up questions.

There was an awkward moment of silence and
then everyone started moving at once. Packing, cleaning.
Ignoring.

Oh, Lordy. It was going to be a long day.

--- ~ ---

Seth picked up the last box out of the truck
and a shooting pain stabbed his shoulder. He really needed to get
into the gym like his physical therapist had suggested. Part of the
reason that he hadn’t was because, when he did go, the series of
simple exercises only served to remind him of his physical
limitations.

He hated it.

“Your shoulder bothering you?” Riley asked as
Seth stepped off the truck.

“I’m fine,” Seth snapped as he brushed past
his brother to the garage.

When he stepped in he saw that Alex, Jason
and Bobby were all having beers. As soon as Seth set the box down
Alex handed him one.

“I still can’t believe you’re getting
married,” Seth said as he took a swig of his beer.

It didn’t surprise Seth at all that Jason and
Bobby were married. They had always seemed like they would settle
down. Both of them were romantics. Jason had loved Katie since
kindergarten and Bobby had loved Sophie since nursery school.

And even Riley with Chelle made sense to him.
Seth had seen those two talking in their teens when he would pick
Riley up from Chelle’s older brother Eddie's house. Even then, Seth
had noticed that they had a strong connection.

But, Alex? Alex was different. He was
definitely never the romantic type. He seemed like he enjoyed his
freedom way too much to ever walk down the aisle.

Alex smiled. “Honestly, I never thought I
would either. It wasn't like I was opposed to the concept, but it
just never seemed like something I'd be interested in. But, damn,
the second I met Jamie I knew. She was it.”

“We can all attest to that,” Jason
smiled.

His brothers laughed, talking about how Alex
had first proposed to Jamie while he was in the hospital, hopped up
on pain meds, the first night he met her. Seth really wished he
could have been there to see it. From what everyone who was there
had said, it was priceless.

The garage door flew open and Joey, Jamie’s
son and Alex’s soon-to-be step-son, ran out.

“Hey, little man,” Alex said as he ruffled
his hair.

That was the other thing that impressed Seth
about Alex. Not only was he committing to Jamie, he was becoming a
dad as well. He seemed to be slipping into the role seamlessly from
what Seth had seen so far.

“Can I have one?” Joey asked pointing to the
beer in Alex’s hand.

“Sure,” Alex said as he opened the
fridge.

Okay...maybe Seth had rushed to judgment on
Alex’s new-found parenting skills. He was just about to say
something when he saw Alex had pulled out a Root Beer for Joey. He
popped the cap the same way he had with the beers and handed it to
Joey.

Joey took a big swig from the bottle and Seth
noticed that the little boy leaned against the pool table in the
exact same position as Alex. Throughout the day he had noticed that
Joey was not only Alex’s shadow, Joey also mirrored every move Alex
made.

The door to the garage opened again and Jamie
stuck her head out. “There you are, little man. Bath time.”

Joey’s shoulders slumped as he shuffled
dejectedly towards the door.

“Thanks so much for helping today, guys,”
Jamie said with a huge smile on her face. “I've never had a move go
this smoothly.”

Alex scooped Joey up and put him on his
shoulders, then bent down and kissed Jamie saying, “I love
you.”

She looked up at him like he was her knight
in shining armor, and Seth guessed he probably was. She placed a
hand adoringly on his cheek and said, “I love you, too.”

“Well, on that note, I think I’m gonna grab
Katie and get out of here,” Jason said, moving around Jamie and
Alex to get into the house and find his wife.

“You need a ride?” Riley asked Seth.

“Yeah, my bike’s over at the duplex,” Seth
said as he and Riley headed out to Riley’s truck.

As they made their way down the driveway,
Seth saw Amber getting in her Prius across the street. She waved
goodbye to them. He was tempted to catch a ride back with Amber,
since she lived right next door, but decided that it wasn’t a good
idea.

He had been having 'Amber withdrawals' since
they had taken another ride together after she viewed the tape at
the police station. All week, he had been tortured by it. Wanting
to see her, but staying away. Pulled in two strong but opposing
directions.

He couldn’t seem to make a decision about how
to deal with her being in his life. He shook his head. This was not
like him. At all.

He was decisive. He was assertive. He was
always in control. He never wavered.

Today had only made things worse, more
confusing. Seeing her with his family made him feel strange. She
fit there. She belonged.

He felt like if anyone was the outsider, it
was him. Which made perfect sense, of course - she had spent the
last decade here, and he had been gone.

“So you went with Amber to the police
station?” Riley asked as soon as they got in the truck.

Seth just nodded.

“Look, I know it’s none of my business-”

“That's right. It’s not.” Seth did not want
to have this conversation.

“Did you know that I actually did go to New
Orleans?” Riley’s voice indicated that he was going somewhere with
his line of questioning.

Seth remained quiet. He had a feeling that
whichever answer he gave, Riley's speech was going to proceed along
the same track, therefore answering would be pointless. Seth made
it a practice never to say anything that was pointless.

“After Chelle and I came back from San
Francisco, I left and went down there for a month. I didn’t think I
was good enough for her, you know? I thought I was too much like
Mom.”

Seth couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He
turned to look at his brother. “Why the hell would you think that?
You’re nothing like Mom.”

“I had my reasons, but the point is this: I
got my head out of my ass and figured it out in time to keep from
losing Chelle.”

“Good.” Seth wasn’t sure why Riley felt the
need to share that, but whatever.

They were both quiet the rest of the ride and
pulled up to the duplex just as Amber was pulling into her
driveway.

“Look, all I’m saying is - if there is
something there between you two, if you care about her like I think
you do, then do something about it. Get your head out of your
ass.”

Seth was about to tell Riley that he could
shove that piece of advice up
his
ass when he heard a loud
scream.

His heart stopped. It was Amber.

Amber’s entire body shook as she stood in her
doorway and looked around her apartment. It was trashed. All of the
cushions were on the floor and her tables were turned over. Her
flat screen had been pulled off of the wall and the screen was
cracked. There was a huge gash where it had been attached.

The room started spinning. This couldn’t be
happening! First Bella, then her car, and now her house. Why would
someone do this?

“Stay with her.” She heard Seth's sharp
command and watched him move to the back of her house.

She started after him, but felt an arm pull
her back onto the porch.

“Stay here, Amber. Just let him clear the
house.” She looked up and saw Riley pulling his phone from his
pocket. “Yes, I’m calling to report a break-in at 830 B Portola
Ave.”

“Riley Sloan. The resident's name is Amber
Webb.”

“Oh, hi, Ms. Lawson. Yes. Seth's inside. I'm
outside with Amber.”

Ms. Lawson? Oh, right. Katie’s mom, Pam, was
a 911 operator. Amber had forgotten that.

“Pam wants to talk to you. An officer should
be here soon,” Riley said as he handed the phone to Amber.

“Hi,” Amber’s voice sounded faraway to her
own ears.

“Are you okay, hon? Do you need me to call
Katie?” Pam asked.

“I’m fine,” Amber said, even though her hand
was shaking so violently that she could barely keep the phone
against her ear.

“Amber, you need to sit down.” Riley guided
her to the rocking chair she kept on her porch.

She felt herself lowering into the chair as
if in slow motion, and she could hear Pam speaking on the other end
of the phone...but Amber felt almost as if she was floating outside
of herself. Everything was spinning and there was a loud buzzing in
her ears that wouldn’t stop.

Riley took the phone back and knelt down in
front of her, instructing her to breathe in through her nose and
out through her mouth. She did what he said, and was just starting
to come back to her senses when she saw the lights of the squad car
flashing.

Man, she had had more dealings with the
police in the last three weeks than she had had in her entire life.
She reached down and rolled her bracelet around her wrist. She had
almost left it at home today so that it wouldn’t get damaged during
the move. She was so glad she hadn’t.

Officer Williams was walking up the steps as
Seth came out the front door, “He’s gone. I believe the entry point
was the bedroom window. It’s smashed and there are footprints on
the comforter.”

“Was anything stolen?” Officer Williams
directed the question to her.

“I’m not sure, I haven’t been inside yet,”
she answered, her voice shaky.

He motioned for the two officers that were
with him to go inside. “Let us take a look first. We'll collect any
pertinent evidence. Then, when we're finished, you can go through
and see if anything’s missing.”

Amber nodded.

“Do you need me to stick around?” Riley asked
his brother.

“No. We’re good,” Seth’s voice sounded even
deeper than normal, with an almost dangerous edge to it.

“Call if you need anything,” Riley said as he
headed back to his truck.

Seth knelt in front of Amber, in the same
spot where Riley had been just moments before.

“How bad is the damage?” Amber asked,
remaining as stoic as possible. Part of her didn't want to know,
but she knew that she needed to prepare herself for what she would
find before she went inside her home.

“The worst is in the bedroom and the front
room.” Seth stared into Amber’s eyes. His gaze was intense but also
comforting.

He stayed in front of her. Neither spoke.
Seth just silently offered support.

Finally, Officer Williams walked back out.
“You can go ahead on in.”

Amber stood; her legs were wobbly. Her entire
body was shaking. She felt Seth’s arm wrap around her waist. He
leaned in and said quietly, “You can do this. I’m right here.”

She took a deep breath and put one foot in
front of the other. She walked into her house and felt Seth’s grip
tighten to hold her up. Stepping over her belongings, currently
strewn across the floor, she carefully made her way to the
bedroom.

All of her dresser drawers had been pulled
out and dumped. The armoire, which had been passed down to her from
her grandmother, was tipped haphazardly on its side. She picked up
her antique jewelry box and saw that it was empty. After getting
down and looking around on the floor and then under the bed, she
glanced up at Seth who was standing with his arms crossed in the
doorway. She liked that he wasn’t hovering, yet stayed close in
case she needed anything.