The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window (31 page)

A few minutes later Liam walked in, wrapping
his body around mine, letting me sob on his chest until I fell
asleep. The last thing that went through my brain was that I knew
everything in my life was just too perfect. I knew I shouldn’t have
got my hopes up for a happy ending. I’d never have a happy
ending.

~ Liam ~

“What’s the baby’s name?” Amber asked her mom
curiously. She was being so calm about it. I knew this was probably
killing her inside but she was putting on an act - probably for
Jake’s benefit. Her eyes were tight; her hand was holding mine a
little too hard for her to be alright.

“
Matt,”
Margaret replied,
looking sad.

Amber
smiled
. “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,” she stated, as if it just didn’t matter that the man
who beat her, sexually abused her for years, and finally tried to
rape her, was coming back and wanted to see her again. She stood up
and let go of my hand. I instinctively jumped up too. Jake was
still really angry, I knew he wouldn’t ever hurt Amber on purpose
but if he went off on one she could get hurt by accident, so I
needed to be there just in case. “I’m going to lay down. I have a
headache,” Amber mumbled, walking off without so much as a tear.
This was bad; she seriously was going to freak out any minute I
could tell by how her shoulders were hunched slightly.

I grabbed her
hand. “Want some company?” I asked, praying that she wasn’t going
to shut me out.

“
Yeah, OK.”
She nodded slightly and walked off without waiting for
me.

I needed to
speak to Jake first, make sure he wasn’t going to go
around there without me or anything. “I’ll just
be a minute. I’m just going to help Jake clear up the table,” I
lied, nodding at the splinters of wood scattered across the floor.
She nodded and walked off quickly. I watched her walk up the
hallway before turning to Jake. “Don’t you dare go there on your
own. I’m serious, Jake. If you want to go, then I’ll come with
you,” I whispered to him warningly.

He
frowned but nodded reluctantly. “I’m not going
to go unless I need to. If he doesn’t come near us then I don’t
want anything to do with him. If comes anywhere near her though,
I’ll kill him,” he growled.

I nodded, I
knew he would, I could tell by his face. Stephen Walker was in some
deep shit, because if Jake didn’t kill him,
then I would if he came anywhere near my Angel. “Listen, I
need to go in there and make sure she’s alright. I’ll speak to you
about this later. Don’t do anything rash, Jake,” I said sternly. He
nodded and I practically ran down the hallway to her. I let myself
in her room; she was curled into a ball on her bed, sobbing her
heart out. I hated seeing her like this; it brought back memories
when I used to see her like this every night since she was eight.
The sight of it now was breaking my heart.

I laid down
in front of her and wrapped my arms around her tightly, throwing my
leg over hers, pulling her closer to me as I rested my chin on the
top of her
head. If he ever touched her
again I was going to kill him. I won’t let her live her life afraid
of a man. I didn't care if I ended up doing time for it - so long
as she was safe, that was all I needed.

After about half an hour of her
sobbing hysterically, her breathing became deeper. I pulled back
slowly and looked down at her. She was sound asleep. Her face was
red and puffy, it was stained with tears, but she still managed to
look like the most beautiful girl in the world. I kissed her
forehead gently and wiped her tears away, untangling myself from
her as gently as I could.

I snuck out
of her bedroom and found Jake sitting on the sofa;
his mom was in the kitchen making dinner. I sat
down next to Jake letting my eyes wander over his face. He looked
so stressed; I hadn’t seen him like this for a couple of years. The
last time I saw him like this was when his dad got in touch about
two years ago, when we were sixteen. That was about a year after we
had beaten the crap out of him and kicked him out. Apparently,
Stephen had wanted to see them again to make amends, or so he said
anyway. Jake had freaked out, just like earlier, and in no
uncertain terms told his dad that if he ever came near Amber again,
that he would rip him to pieces. It was just lucky that that
conversation happened over the phone; otherwise that asshole would
be rotting in some unmarked grave right now.

“
Alright,
Jake?” I asked, gripping his shoulder, squeezing
affectionately.

He sighed and nodded. “Is she OK?” he asked
quietly.

I shook my
head. “No,” I admitted sadly. I winced as his face turned harder; I
hated to see Jake so angry. “She’s asleep now though.”

“
You need to
help me, Liam,
” he mumbled, closing his
eyes.

“Of course,” I agreed, nodding quickly. I’d
do anything it took to keep my Angel safe, anything in the
world.

“
I don’t want
her on her own. One of us needs to be with her at all times. Can
you stay with her while I go to work during the week?” he asked,
looking at me hopefully.

I
smiled
a little guiltily. “I always do,
Jake. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. She’ll be fine.” I
smiled reassuringly. I would never let anything hurt her again. I’d
let it go on when they were kids and I never forgave myself for
that. I mean, if I’d just said something to my mom or dad, maybe it
would have stopped before it got too far.

He
nodded
. “Yeah, I know. Listen, about
tomorrow, I don’t know how she’s going to react to this Johnny kid.
I know he doesn’t know anything, but what if he starts asking her
why we don’t see him? He could upset her at school. She’d hate
that. She’ll have years of this now,” he said sadly.

“
Jake, we’ll
just have to see how it plays.” I took a deep breath and decided to
tell him what I had
been thinking about
since his mom first said that asshole was back in town. I wasn’t
sure how Jake would react to my suggestion though; hopefully he’d
see that I was thinking about her. “You know I’m off to college in
a couple of months. Well, I was going to turn down my scholarship
to Boston and go to college closer to here so I could still stay
with her, but if the worst comes to the worst, I’ll take her with
me to Boston. She can transfer schools,” I suggested, shrugging,
waiting for his reaction.

I’d been
thinking about this a lot over the last few months, since I
received my offer letter.
That college
was an awesome opportunity for my career, but I didn’t want to go.
I didn’t want to leave Amber even before we got together, but I
don’t even think I’d survive it now that I finally had her. I was
thinking about either going to a local college, or asking her to
come with me to Boston. The trouble was that Amber was only
sixteen, so I was sure I was going to take the first option and
stay here with her. Now that this situation had come about though,
I was back to the asking her to come with me plan. I could take her
away from it all; we could have a fresh start where she wouldn’t be
reminded about him every day, where she wouldn’t have to worry
about bumping into him every time she stepped out of the
house.

I expected
Jake to go crazy at me for even suggesting
that I take her away from him; it surprised me when he
didn’t. He just nodded. “Thanks, man,” he said sadly.

“
I’m going to
go and ask your mom if I can stay the night,” I said, standing up
and heading to the kitchen. Margaret was still upset; her eyes were
red from crying.

She smiled
s
adly when she saw me. “Is she OK, Liam?”
she asked, looking towards the hallway as if expecting her to come
out.

I
nodded
. “She’s upset, but she’s sleeping
now. Margaret, do you think I could stay with Angel tonight? We
won’t do anything, I swear. I just want to be there for her when
she wakes up,” I pleaded. I would be staying in her room
regardless; I just thought it would make things easier if everyone
knew I was in there.

She
came over and hugged me tightly. “You’re a good
boy, Liam, you always have been,” she said with a tear in her
eye.

“
Is that
a,
‘yes, you can share a bed
with my daughter, Liam’
?” I joked, trying
to lighten the mood. It worked, she laughed.

“
Yeah,
OK.” She nodded, rolling her eyes and sniffing
loudly.

I kissed her
on the cheek. “Everything’s going to be fine. Jake and I will watch
out for you both,” I promised as I hugged her tightly.

She
nodded
. “I know you will. Just watch out
for Jake for me too. I have a feeling he’s going to do something
rash and get himself in trouble,” she said, frowning.

“
I’ll watch
him. Don’t worry about anything.” I smiled and rubbed her back
gently. “I’m going to go grab some clothes and stuff from mine. I
won’t be long.” I turned and practically ran to my house, trying to
be as quick as I could.

M
y mom was ironing in the lounge.
“Hey, Mom. I’m staying with Angel tonight,” I informed her as I
breezed past without waiting for an answer. I shoved fresh clothes
and my school books into a bag, before heading back out to see my
mom. I hadn’t seen her since Friday morning when I came out of my
room, pretending I’d stayed the night here as usual.

“How are you and Amber getting on?” she
asked, grinning happily.

I smiled,
thinking about just how great we were getting on before all of
this
happened an hour ago. “Awesome.
Really awesome,” I admitted.

She beamed at
me happily. “You two are being careful, right?” she asked, looking
at me warningly.

I
smiled
and nodded. “Yeah, Mom, Angel’s on
the pill,” I stated, rolling my eyes. She had never asked me about
my sex life before and now all of a sudden she was interested?
“Listen, I’ve got to go. Margaret’s back so she’s making dinner. I
just came back to grab my clothes.” I shifted the bag on my
shoulder, looking at the door longingly; I just wanted to get back
over there as quickly as I could in case she woke up.

My mom looked
at me curiously
. “Margaret’s home and
she’s letting you stay with Amber?” she asked, looking a little
shocked. I smiled, knowing that under normal circumstances Margaret
would have kicked my ass just for asking to stay, but what with
everything going on she didn’t seem to mind.

“
Yeah, she
said it was fine.
” I kissed her on the
cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow night about nine when Jake gets home
from work, OK?” I called over my shoulder as I walked towards the
door.

She
sighed
dramatically. “It was nice to see
you, Liam,” she called sarcastically.

I
laughed
. “Love you, Mom.”

“
Love you
too,” she called,
just as I shut the
door.

I ran back to
Amber as quick as I could, she was still asleep in the same
po
sition. It was only seven thirty; maybe
she’d sleep all night. I laid down next to her again, just looking
her over. Instantly, she snuggled closer to me, the same as she did
every night. I wrapped her tightly in my arms and closed my eyes,
trying to think of anything other than the worst memory of my life.
The image of walking in on her father trying to force himself on
her while she laid there bruised and bleeding on their lounge
carpet. After he left, she admitted that her father had been
touching her since she was about five. After that confession, she
never spoke of it again. I think she buried it so deep inside her
that she kind of pretended like it didn’t happen or something –
like denial I guess. The only time that you ever saw effects from
it, where when people touched her and she panicked.

A little while later, Jake brought in two plates of
food. He looked at Amber with a pained expression on his face. “You
think we should wake her and get her to eat something?” he
whispered.

I shook my
head
. “No, let her sleep. If she wakes up
hungry then I’ll make her something,” I said quietly, as I started
scoffing my pasta, hungrily. He sat on the foot of her bed just
watching her sleep for a little while. “She’ll be alright, Jake,” I
promised.

He sighed and
nodded
. “Yeah I know. G’night, Liam.” He
smiled sadly as he took my empty plate and Amber’s untouched one
and slipped out of her room. I wrapped myself back around her and
watched her sleep until I couldn’t stay awake anymore.

Chapter 17

~ Amber ~

When I woke up in the morning my head was pounding. I
groaned. I really didn’t need a headache on top of everything else
that was going to go wrong today. Liam was still asleep so I crept
out of the bed, trying not to wake him. I headed to my bathroom for
a shower. I stood under the spray, trying desperately not to cry as
I thought about my father and his ‘new family’. What on earth was I
going to say to this Johnny guy? I sighed and got out of the
shower, wrapping myself in a towel.