The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window (30 page)

“
Hey
, you,” Liam said from the
door way a little while later.

“
Hey,” I
greeted, not opening my eyes.

“
Another cold
bath?” he asked, laughing. I shook my head and glanced over at him.
He was leaning against the doorframe
, one
leg slung casually over the other, his arms folded across his
chest, a smirk on his face. He looked sexy as hell.

“
Actually
, it’s warm this time.
Want to get in?” I offered.

He looked a
little
shocked. “Seriously?” he asked,
standing up straighter, looking ridiculously eager.

I laughed and
nodded in confirmation. “Seriously.”

Quicker than
I thought possible, he was naked and in the bath behind me,
wrapping his arms around me.

Sunday flew by incredibly fast. I was really excited
to see my mom; I hadn’t seen her for just over two weeks. She
wasn’t actually due back until next weekend but she wanted to come
back this week instead. It was now just after six o’clock, and she
was due home any minute. I was sat on Liam’s lap in the lounge,
practically vibrating with excitement. When I heard her car pull up
outside, I ran towards the door, squealing happily.

Jake jumped
up at the same time as me and grabbed me round the waist,
laug
hing as he threw me on the sofa. “Me
first, shrimp,” he stated, running for the door ahead of me, making
me laugh.

I followed
him out of the door
and attacked my mom
into a hug. “Hey, Jake. Hey, Amber!” she chirped, hugging us
tightly. Liam went straight to the trunk and pulled out her
luggage. When she pulled out of the hug she was smiling with tears
in her eyes. “I missed you guys,” she said, kissing us both
happily, “Hey, Liam. Got a hug for me?” she asked,
grinning.

He
laughed
and nodded. “Always, Margaret,”
he said, hugging her tightly.

“
You got more
handsome,” she stated, pat
ting his cheek
affectionately.

He
laughed
. “I don’t know about that,” he
answered, shaking his head, grinning. I bit my lip; he’d definitely
got more handsome in my opinion. My mom loved Liam, she always had
done. He spent a lot of time over at our place, and since my father
left she became really close with Pat and Rick once she was
‘allowed’ to socialise.

“
So, what
have I missed?” she asked, looping her arm through mine, walking
off towards the door
, leaving the boys to
carry her bags.

I grinned
knowing
that she was going to freak out
when I told her about Liam. “Um, not much. I fell in love,” I said
happily.

She gasped and pulled me to a stop, looking
at me so shocked that I couldn’t help but laugh. “You…You what?”
she stuttered, looking at me with a bewildered expression.

I smiled and
made her walk into the house,
pulling her
into the kitchen. “I got a boyfriend,” I confirmed, grinning like a
mad person.

“
Oh,
Amber, I never thought you would be able to! I’m
so proud of you, honey. I know how hard it is for you to let people
near you,” she cooed, hugging me tightly, tears glistening in her
eyes again. Liam and Jake walked in; both of them leaning against
the kitchen counter. Liam shot me a little wink and I smiled in
response. “Well, what’s his name? Do I get to meet him while I’m
here? Oh wait, does Jake know?” she asked, whispering the last
part, probably thinking she was dropping me in something with my
overprotective big brother.

I laughed and
looked at Jake who was in the p
rocess of
glaring at Liam again. “Yeah, Mom, Jake knows,” I confirmed,
chuckling.

“
Well? Who is
it? What’s he like?” she asked,
beaming
at me excitedly.

“
Well, mostly
he’s a pain in the ass. He’s
cocky and
way too confident. But on the plus side, he’s extremely hot,” I
stated, watching Liam’s face as he tried not to laugh.

“
Looks don’t
last long, Amber! You shouldn’t base a relationship on how someone
looks!” she scolded,
her eyebrows
knitting together in disapproval.

I couldn’t
help but laugh
. “Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll
kick him to the curb when his looks go,” I joked.

“
You’d better
not!” Liam warned, moving to my side, wrap
ping his arm around my waist.

My mom looked
between the two of us a few times, a shocked expression on her
face. Her eyes flicked to Jake, her expression bewildered and
confused. Jake nodded somewhat reluctantly. All of a sudden, she
started laughing and shook her head. “I should have known! All that
teasing and stuff, I didn’t realise it was sexual tension,” she
said, laughing harder as Jake snorted angrily.

“
I don’t want
to know!” Jake growled, covering his ears quickly, shaking
hi
s head as we all just
laughed.

My mom pulled
me into another hug. “I’m so pleased for you, Amber. He’s such a
good boy,” she whispered.

“
I
know
he is,” I agreed as she let me go. I
took hold of Liam’s hand, pressing my side against his. I couldn’t
help but wish I could take him in my room and have him rub his
hands all over my body again, I hadn’t been with him since this
morning and it felt like forever.

“
Congratulations
, guys,” she
chirped, smiling. Liam squeezed my hand, grinning happily at me,
making my heart melt. My mom smiled a little sadly, looking at Jake
first, then me. “Guys, I need to talk to you about something.
There’s a reason I came back a week early,” she admitted, her voice
hard and serious.

Jake
stiffened
, and his face hardened. “We
don’t want to see him if that’s what you’re going to say,” he said
sternly, moving to stand next to me protectively.

My mom
shook
her head. “It’s not that simple. I
don’t want to have to say this, he’s put me in such an awkward
position and I’m sorry,” she said quietly. Liam and Jake both moved
closer to me unconsciously, so I was completely wedged between the
two of them. Jeez, what the hell are they getting so worried about?
He’s not here now!

“
Mom, what
are you talking about? I won’t let that asshole anywhere near
Amber,
” Jake growled angrily.

She
st
arted to cry so I pushed away from the
boys and wrapped my arms around her. Crap, this was bad. Whatever
it was, she was really upset about it. “What’s wrong?” I whispered,
willing myself not to cry too. I hated seeing my mom upset, she was
always the strong one.

“
I need to
sit down,” she said quietly, swiping at her face roughly, wiping
the tears a
way as she took a deep breath.
I followed her into the lounge, sitting on the sofa, barely able to
breathe. Thoughts of the two of them getting back together, him
wanting to move back in, him demanding to see us, even him wanting
custody of us, all these thoughts were whizzing through my brain so
fast that it made me feel sick. Liam sat next to me, wrapping his
arm around me tightly. I pressed into him for support, waiting for
her to say it.

“
Your fathers
moved to this town,
” she said
quietly.

Jake jumped
out of the seat. “Motherfucker! I told him to stay away!” he
shouted angrily, looking like he wanted to smash
something.

My mom
nodded. “Jake, he wants to get to know you two again. He says he’s
sorry and that he’s changed. He wants you to give him another
chance.”

“
You mean he
wants another chance to try and rape Amber?” Jake shouted. I
flinched as the memories rushed back
.
Liam’s arm tightened around me, his hands clenching into
fists.

My mom shook
her head, looking at him pleadingly.
“Jake, I don’t like this any more than you do, so please
stop shouting at me! I hate that I’m the one to have to tell you
this, but it’s not my fault,” she said, crying again
now.

Jake sighed
and shook his head, kneeling down in front of her
pulling her into a hug. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t
be taking this out on you,” he said, still sounding angry. I
pressed my face into Liam’s shoulder, breathing him in. I felt him
put his lips on my neck and I concentrated on the feel of his
breath blowing reassuringly down my back, trying desperately not to
freak out. After a minute of silence, Jake spoke. “Why has he come
back? Why didn’t you just tell him we didn’t want to see him?” he
asked.

She closed
he
r eyes and smiled sadly. “He remarried.
He has a son who’s one, he’s your half-brother. Apparently, the
woman that he married has a son already. He’s seventeen. Your
father wants you to get to know his new family,” she said, sneering
slightly at the ‘new family’ bit at the end.

Holy shit, I
had a litt
le brother, and a
step-brother?

Jake jumped
up. “That fucker should have been castrated! He shouldn’t be
allowed to have more kids!” he cried, gripping his hands in his
hair tightly.

“
I needed to
come back today and speak to you because the elder boy, Johnny his
name is; he’s going to be starting your school tomorrow. He knows
about you two,” she said, looking at me
apologetically
.

Jake kicked
the coffee table, hard, sending it flying over. Liam jumped up and
stood in front of me protectively as Jake shouted profanities and
kicked the table over and over again, probably hurting his foot. I
stood up and pushed past Liam, batting off his hands as he
tried to stop me going near my brother. I
grabbed Jake’s arm, making him stop and look at me. His face was
pure rage and I think if my father was here tight now, he’d be
dead. That man really needed to stay the hell away from Jake. I
wrapped my arms around him tightly, knowing I needed to calm him
down before he hurt himself. The only way to calm Jake down when he
went crazy like this was to make him think I was upset, that
usually snapped him out of his rage pretty quickly.

“
Jake
, stop. You’re scaring me.
Please?” I whispered, clinging to him for dear life.

He was
shaking with anger a
s he wrapped his arms
around me. “It’s OK. Shh, everything’s OK. I’m sorry,” he murmured,
rubbing my back, his overprotective nature kicking in.

“
I’m
sorry,
” my mom muttered, sobbing behind
us.

I pulled out
of Jake’s arms and went to si
t next to
her. “It’s OK, Mom. None of this is your fault. We’ll figure it
out. Neither Jake or I want to see him, so we just won’t see him,”
I stated, pretending it would be that easy.

“
What about
this boy, Johnny, your stepbrother? He’s going to be at your school
tomorrow. He knows who you are but he d
oesn’t know about what happened back then. Your father told
me that his new family thinks that you don’t want to see him
because of the breakup of our marriage, nothing else,” she said
shaking her head.

Jake laughed
humourless
ly. “Yeah, why would the
spineless bastard tell his new wife that he beat the crap out of
his old family for years before finally trying to rape his own
daughter? Not something you can bring up in normal conversation is
it?” he spat nastily. I flinched again. I hated the word rape, it
was awful.

“
Jake! Will
you stop fucking saying that?” Liam cried, glaring at him angrily
as he sat down in front of me,
taking my
hand.

“
Sorry
, Ambs, I didn’t think,”
Jake mumbled apologetically.

I shook my
head and faked a smile
. “It’s fine, Jake,
don’t worry.” I waved my hand dismissively, pretending that I was
unaffected by this whole situation. “What’s the baby’s name?” I
asked my mom, wanting to know about the little brother I now
had.

She smiled
sadly. “Matt.”

I smiled.
Matt. It was cute, I liked it. I could feel the hysterics building
inside me though and I knew I needed to be on my own. “Well,
there’s not much we can do about it now, I guess. We’ll just have
to see what this Johnny guy is like tomorrow. But I don’t want
anything to do with that man ever again,” I stated matter-of-factly
as I stood up. “I’m going to lay down. I have a headache,” I said
as I started to walk off. I needed to get out of here before I had
a meltdown in front of Jake - that would just make him crazy
again.

Liam grabbed
my hand. “Want some company?” he asked quietly, looking at me with
the puppy dog face. The damn boy knew I couldn’t say no to that
face.

“
Yeah, OK.” I
nodded slightly and started walking off towards my
bedroom.

“
I’ll just be
a minute. I’m just going to help Jake clear up the table,” Liam
said, nodding towards the broken wooden mess that used to be our
coffee table.

I nodded and
walked off quickly. I could hear them whispering behind me, I knew
they were talking about me, but I just couldn’t bring myself to
care. I curled into a ball on my bed and sobbed as I thought about
it. My father was in this town and wanted to get to know us again.
He had a new family. I couldn’t help but wonder if he treated them
nicely and loved them, and if he did treat them nicely and love
them, why the hell couldn’t he have done that to us? Why didn’t he
love us?