The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window (19 page)

“
Over
eighteen hundred dollars.” I laughed. Liam nearly swerved us off
the road again and Jake’s mouth dropped open. He looked at Liam
with a look of pure pride in his eyes. “Yep, twenty bucks each. So
that makes about ninety girls wanting to be the next one you screw,
Liam.” I smiled at him in the mirror. He looked horrified, and
honestly, a little scared.

“
Holy
shit
, man! You know, you should just
choose someone and screw them and split the money!” Jake said
excitedly. Liam gave him the filthiest look in the world, like he’d
just suggested skinning a puppy or something. Jake held up his
hands apologetically. “Kidding. Jeez, I’m kidding!” he said
quickly, but I could tell by his face that he was actually
serious.

“
So
, that’s why Sarah just hit on
me outside the car! Who the hell else is in on this, Angel?” Liam
asked, sounding really annoyed about it.

“
Well,
Jessica’s arranging it. All of the cheer squad, most of the
seniors, me, Ashley, Nadine,
” I replied,
listing off the people that I knew, but Liam cut me off.

“
You?” he
asked, with wide eyes.

I
nodded
, laughing. “Well yeah, eighteen
hundred bucks is a lot of money. Mind you, it was only at two forty
when I put in, but still, I like to gamble,” I joked, giving him a
sexy smile in the mirror.

Jake looked
like he was
going to explode. “You? No
freaking way! What the heck are you thinking?” he shouted at me,
making me flinch. I hated to see Jake angry.

“
Jake, it’s a
lot of money I just thought, you know, it’d be a laugh. You never
know, I may get to lose my virginity to the famous Liam James,” I
teased, waggling my eyebrows at him.

Jake started
to laugh, looking relieved; he obvio
usly
thought I was joking. I smiled and looked out of the window; I
wasn’t good at lying, if he asks me if I was joking then I would
have to tell him the truth. “Jeez, Ambs, you scared me then! I
thought you were serious.” Jake laughed, slapping Liam on the
shoulder proudly. “Eighteen hundred bucks that’s awesome, Liam. I
wonder how many girls you could bang in one night, if they all
thought they were the one to win the bet.”

I gasped. Oh
crap! Great Jake, put that in his head, I’m sure that’s all he
needs to hear since his girlfriend’s not willing to give it up!
“Damn it, Jake, I have a girlfriend!” Liam cried, sounding a little
exasperated.

“
Yeah I
know
, but come on, girls are going to be
pretty desperate to win, I bet you could get them to do anything,”
Jake smirked, waggling his eyebrows.

“
Jake
, just stop. I don’t want
anyone else; I’m crazy about my girl. I’m not going to screw it up
with her,” Liam stated proudly. He smiled at me in the mirror and
my breathing started to slow down as my panic started to recede.
Trust. I needed to trust him and stop assuming the worst all of the
time.

We dropped
Jake off at the gym and Liam drove us home. “You put in twenty
bucks betting you would be the next one to sleep with me?” he
asked, smiling at me cockily.

“
Actually no,
the bet is to be the next one to
nail
you.” I shrugged,
giggling.

He laughed
and gripped my hand as we drove. “I can’t
believe that this is happening. I thought that once people
knew I wasn’t interested, that they would all leave me alone, not
have more girls after me! I’m really sorry.” He frowned and kissed
the back of my hand softly.

“
Don’t worry
about it; it’s not your fault. I guess that whole trust thing is
going to be needed a lot from now on, huh?” I joked, smiling a half
smile, pretending I wasn’t worried about all of the girls that
would be throwing themselves at h
im for
the foreseeable future.

We reached my
h
ouse and he parked in his drive. “Hey,
want to come in? We can tell my parents we’re together. I told them
I have a girlfriend and my mom almost died, I swear,” he said,
chuckling and nodding towards his house with a hopeful
expression.

“
Wow, the
whole meet the parents thing already?” I joked
, pretending to be scared. “I mean, what if they don’t like
me?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his waist and putting my face
in his chest, faking horror. He laughed and so did I. The idea of
Liam’s parents not liking me was seriously funny. They already
thought of me as a daughter. Liam was an only child because his mom
had some problems when she gave birth to him, which left her unable
to have more kids, so she loved me and always said that Jake and I
were part of the family. I loved them too; they were great people,
kind, funny and thoughtful. Actually, just like Liam, though it
just took me a long time to see past all of his bravado.

Chapter 11

He pulled me into his house, holding my hand, smiling
excitedly. “Mom? Dad? You home?” Liam shouted, looking into the
empty lounge.

I could hear
voices in the
kitchen. “Yeah, honey.
We’re in here,” Pat called.

Liam smiled
happily and
dragged me to the kitchen.
Pat was baking cookies and Rick was busy trying to eat the cookie
mix straight from the bowl, making her laugh and hit his hand with
the wooden spoon. I chuckled at the scene. They were always like
this, she was the perfect housewife and mother, and he adored her
and Liam, which was really sweet.

“
Hey
, Amber. Long time no see,”
Rick said, grabbing me into a hug, which made my heart
race.

“
Hey, Rick.
Hi, Pat. How are you?” I asked cheerfully.

“
We’re great!
Amber, I would hug you but I’m covered in cookies, honey.” Pat
frowned, holding up her hands in evidence.

“
Yeah
, I can see that! They smell
so good,” I said, eyeing the already baked ones on the plate on the
counter. She passed the plate to me and I happily took one,
smiling. “Thanks.”

“
Hey! You
said I couldn’t have one because they were cooling,” Rick
whined
, pouting, making me laugh; she
picked up a cookie and tossed it at him with a wink.

“
Um guys, I
was wondering if you wanted to meet my girlfriend. Maybe she could
have dinner with us tonight?” Liam suggested, putting his hand on
the small of my back.

A grin spread
across Pat’s face
. She looked so happy
that I actually thought she was actually holding back tears. “Oh,
Liam! I’d love to meet her! I still can’t believe you have a
girlfriend. You spent all this time saying that there was only one
girl for you and now you’re finally able to move on and actually
date someone!” she cooed, practically bursting with excitement and
pride.

“
Yeah OK,
Mom, tone it down a bit, huh?” Liam mumbled, rolling his
eyes.

“
So, what
time is she coming? Have you met her, Amber? Is she nice?” Pat
asked, beaming at me. I looked at
Liam,
unsure what to say. This whole situation was laughable. And did she
say that Liam had always said there was only one girl for
him?

“
Actually,
Mom, she’s here right now,” Liam said proudly, rubbing my back
gently and smiling at me. His eyes bore into mine, making my whole
body feel a little hotter. Pat jumped and wiped her hands on a
cloth, quickly fixing her hair frantically, before she practically
ran to the hallway. OK, weird! “Mom, what are you doing?” Liam
asked, laughing; I noticed that Rick was staring at Liam’s hand on
my back, a wide grin on his face.

“
Well, is she
parking the car or something?” Pat asked
,
looking back at Liam before glancing at the front door again. He
laughed harder and Rick and I chuckled too.

“
Mom, this is
my girlfriend. Her name is Amber Walker.” Liam beamed proudly at me
as I pressed myself closer to him.

Pat’s face
snapped to look at me
, shocked. Slowly,
her face turned to happiness, then complete bliss, as she laughed
and ran to me, grabbing both me and Liam into a big hug. “Oh my
gosh! Finally, you two got together? Finally!” she almost screamed,
jumping up and down on the spot.

Liam wrapped
his arm round my waist and pulled me impossibly closer to him.
“Yeah, finally,
” he confirmed, rolling
his eyes, but looking amused at the same time. Rick put his hand
out to Liam. They shook hands in a very grown up gesture, before he
pulled him into a bear hug.

After
all
of the excitement had died down, we
had dinner. It was really nice to be sat with Liam’s parents like
this, they honestly didn’t stop smiling. Every time Liam and I
touched each other, Pat would sigh happily, beaming at
us.

“
Right, you
boys can clear the table!” Pat ordered, grabbing my arm and pulling
me to the lou
nge. “I am so happy for you
two. Liam’s told you he’s been in love with you for years, right?”
she beamed. My breath caught in my throat at her choice of words.
She thought that Liam was in love with me? He wasn’t in love with
me, was he? Did he really whisper that he loved me last night
before I fell asleep?

“
Er, he told
me he’s liked me for a long time, yeah,” I mumbled, a little
uncomfortably.

She rolled
her eyes. “
Liked
, jeez that boy has been
smitten with you from the get go. I mean, he still calls you Angel
for goodness sake!” she laughed.

I looked at
her
, confused. “What does that have to do
with anything?” I asked, frowning. I really loved Pat, but
sometimes she can be a little crazy.

“
He’s never
told you why he calls you that?” she asked, smirking at me. I shook
my head, and she chuckled
darkly. “The
first time we met you was at Liam’s sixth birthday party. You’d not
long moved in and we thought it would be nice, you know, to invite
the neighbours to the party,” she started, nodding
enthusiastically.

“
Yeah
, I remember. You had
balloons everywhere, and a clown that did magic tricks.” I smiled;
the James’ always did throw the best parties, even kids
parties.

“
That’s
right. So anyway
, you and your brother
came to the party and as soon as you walked through the door, Liam
just stared at you. He literally couldn’t take his eyes off of you.
You smiled and said happy birthday to him, but he couldn’t even
speak to you, so you walked off to go dance. He turned to me, and
do you know what he said to me?” she asked, her eyes tearing up. I
shook my head. What the heck is she going to say? This is freaking
me out a little! “He said in a deadly serious tone,
‘
Momma, am I dead?’
And I said ‘
no honey, you’re not dead’
, and
he shook his head, looking all confused about something. Then he
pointed to you dancing and
said, ‘if I’m not dead, then why is there an Angel in our
house?’
” she stated, clasping her hands
together and beaming.

I gasped.
Holy crap! That’s why he calls me Angel? My heart was racing and my
palms were sweaty. I think Liam really is in love with me, but am I
in love with him? I don’t think so, at least, not yet. But I could
easily see myself falling in love with him.

“
That’s why
he calls me that? Are you serious?” I asked, unsure if she was
joking
or not.

“
Totally. Ask
him if you don’t believe me, but from the moment he saw you he was
in love with you, it’s plain on the look on his face. I’m surprised
you never noticed.” She shook her head, chuckling.

“
I never
noticed because he was always so mean to me. He was always pushing
me over, or pulling my hair, calling me names.” I frowned. Why did
he do all of t
hat if he was in love with
me?

“
Your brother
made him stay away. He beat Liam up after his birthday party that
same year and told him to stay away from you,” she
said
, laughing and shaking her head.
“That brother of yours sure is protective, bless him,” she said,
smiling fondly.

“
Yeah, I
know. Liam and I talked about it and we decided to keep it from
Jake for a couple of weeks, just until things settle down. I’d
really appreciate it if you’d not say anything to him if you see
him.” I winced at the thought of Liam and Jake fighting. I
definitely wanted to put that off as long as possible.

“
I won’t say
anything, but I don’t think you should leave it too
long
, otherwise it’ll only get
harder.”

I smiled
gratefully. “Yeah, just a couple of weeks.”

Suddenly
, Liam jumped over the
back of the couch and landed next to me, wrapping his arm around my
shoulder and pulling me to him. When I turned to smile at him, he
kissed me, nibbling my lip, asking for entrance. Jeez, did he
forget his mom was sitting there watching us?

I pulled away
quickly, making him groan. “Angel, I haven’t seen you all day,” he
whined
, pouting like a little kid. I
laughed at the word Angel; did he really call me that because he
thought I was an Angel when he was six years old? “What are you
laughing at, beautiful?” he asked, stroking the side of my face
with the back of one finger.