The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window (44 page)

L
iam rubbed his hands up my arms
gently, unclasping my hands from his hair. When he was free of my
arms, he pulled back to look at me. He was stressed and worried, I
could tell by his eyes. “I love you,” he vowed, kissing me gently
on the lips again.

“
I love you
too
,” I whispered, not trusting my voice
to speak again.

Liam stood up
and the guy immediately pulled his hands behind his back, putting
on handcuffs. Liam’s eyes didn’t leave mine as I felt my heart
breaking all over again. I thought after losing the baby that
nothing could be more painful. I was wrong.

I watched as
they led him out o
f the room leaving me
on my own. I felt sick. I couldn’t let them do this, this wasn’t
his fault. I could press charges as well, then they would see that
my father hit me first, and then Liam would get let off because he
was defending me. But they wouldn’t let him off for that, would
they? Defending me is one thing, but he went crazy, they’ll never
believe that what he did was self-defence.

I put my
hands over my face
, trying to think of
something. Either way, Liam was getting in trouble for this because
my father had pressed charges, even if I pressed charges against my
father, Liam’s charges would still stand. Self-defence or not, he
was still going to be charged with GBH because he
did
do it
even though he was provoked. I couldn’t take the risk that he would
be let off. What if he wasn’t? What if he got sent to jail for
this, and I lost him?

The only
thing I could think of was getting my father to drop the charges. I
g
rabbed my phone and called Jake. He
answered on the second ring. “Jake, Liam’s been arrested,” I said
simply.

“
What the
hell? No way
!” he shouted, making me
wince away from the phone slightly.

“
Jake, look
I’m due out of here this
afternoon, so
can you bring me some clothes ready for that?” I asked, trying to
stay calm.

“
Yeah
, I’ll be there in like
twenty minutes,” he agreed. I could hear him crashing around in the
background, probably throwing all of my stuff in a bag or
something.

“
Thanks
.” I snapped my phone shut,
pressing it against my forehead, thinking. Was there any other way?
I just couldn’t see another option.

My hands were
shaking, I was scared as hell
, but I
dialled my father’s house number. It rang for a long time. Just as
I was about to give up, he answered. His voice was thick with
sleep; it sent a shiver down my spine. I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Hello?” He somehow managed to sound terrifying with one
word.

“
It’s
Amber
,” I said, swallowing the lump in my
throat.

He
laughed
. “And what can I do for you,
Amber?”

“
I want you
to drop the charges against Liam
,” I
answered, trying to sound confident.

He laughed
again. “I’m not dropping the charges, that fucker broke my nose!
You should see what he did to my face,” he shouted, making me
flinch. How is it that he still scared the life out of me, and he
was only on the phone?

“
Please,
please don’t do this, please
?” I begged,
trying not to cry.

He sighed.
“You want me to drop the charges?”

“
Yes
,” I answered, wiping the
tears off of my face.

“
Come to my
house and we’ll talk about it,” he stated, sounding
amused.

Go to his
house? Oh my God, is he kidding me?

“
Please drop
the charges. You know you hit me first, please?” I begged, feeling
the bile rise in my throat, he liked holding this over my head I
could tell.

“
Come to my
house and we’ll talk about it,” he repeated.

I looked up
at the clock;
Jake would be here in about
ten minutes. “Can I bring Jake?” I asked, knowing that was the
stupidest question I’d ever asked in my life. Why on earth would I
be allowed to take Jake? If he was anywhere near him then we
wouldn’t need to worry about charges, because he would be buried by
the side of some road somewhere.

“
No. Leave
that fucker out of it!” he growled.

Oh God, can I
do this? Can I really go there and talk to him? Was I strong
enough? I knew the answer to that question. I would do anything for
Liam, even if I had to kill my father myself to stop him pressing
charges. No victim, no crime.

I swallowed
my fear. “OK, I’ll be there within the hour,” I said quietly as I
snapped my phone shut, trying desperately not to have a panic
attack. I needed to be strong now.

I laid back
down in t
he bed and tried to calm myself.
I couldn’t be too freaked out when Jake came, otherwise he wouldn’t
want to leave me on my own. I laid there, counting the foam tiles
on the ceiling, trying not to think about anything else. I got to
867 before Jake ran into the room. He looked really tired and
stressed. I would bet my bottom dollar that he didn’t sleep too
well last night. He pulled me into a hug gently and I tried not to
wince as it hurt my stomach and hips.

“
Shit
, Ambs, this is bad.” He
shook his head, looking both angry and worried at the same
time.

I nodded; I
needed to get him out of here
quickly.
“Jake, I need you to go to the police station and see if there’s
anything you can do for Liam. I’m not going to be released from
here until this afternoon, so I can’t go,” I instructed, squeezing
his hand.

He
nodded
, looking concerned. “You sure you
don’t need me to stay with you for a bit? Are you
alright?”

I nodded and
smiled weakly. “I just need Liam to be OK. So if you could do that
for me, Jake,” I requested, nodding towards the door.

He hugged me
again. “OK. I’ll call you if I hear anything.” He kissed the top of
my head and put a bag of my clothes onto the floor next to my bed.
“If they let you out, call me and I’ll come and get you and take
you home,” he said sternly.

I nodded and
pulled him into another hug so I would
n’t
have to lie to his face. “OK. Please go see if you can do
anything,” I pleaded.

“
Right. See
you in a bit.” He smiled reassuringly before turning and running
from the room.

I gave him a
minute to leave before I pressed the call button on the wall. A
nurse came in within a minute. “Hi, how are you feeling today? You
need some more painkillers?” she asked
,
smiling kindly.

I shook my
head. “No, I want to discharge myself. My brother’s gone to get the
car. My mom’s had an accident. I need to go,” I lied, swinging my
legs off of the bed.

“
Amber, you
can’t just leave, you had surgery yesterday,” she
scolded.

“
The doctor
said
I could go home this afternoon. It’s
only a few hours early,” I countered, grabbing the bag that Jake
brought and starting to pull on my clothes, wincing slightly as I
moved.

“
Amber, you
s
houldn’t be out of your bed yet! Even
when you get released this afternoon it will still be for bed rest
for a couple of days,” she explained, frowning at me.

“
Look, I
appreciate your concern
, but I’m leaving
this hospital right now. You can’t keep me here against my will. I
know my rights. I can discharge myself early as long as I sign a
form to say I’m leaving against doctor’s orders so that I can’t sue
you later,” I said sternly. She was starting to piss me off; I
didn’t have time for this.

She looked at
me a l
ittle shocked before she nodded.
“I’ll go find a doctor,” she muttered, heading towards the
door.

“
Tell him to
bring the forms
with him, I don’t have
time to wait,” I requested, biting my lip. I was anxious to get
this done; I needed Liam out of trouble, now. I finished getting
dressed and packing up my stuff and sat on the bed, impatiently
watching the second hand on the clock tick round. Finally, after
what felt like forever but was probably about three minutes, a
doctor came in looking at me sternly.

“
Amber
, I don’t recommend that you
leave the hospital yet,” he stated.

I shook my
head. “My mom’s had an accident; I need to get there with my
brother. He’s waiting in the car for me, I need to go now. Just
show me where to sign.” I nodded towards the clipboard in his
hand.

He sighed and
passed me
the form pointing at the
bottom. “This is basically a waiver, saying that I’ve recommended
you stay in the hospital and you’re leaving against my orders,” he
explained as I signed my name in the three places he pointed. I
nodded and passed it back to him, grabbing my bag. “You need to
take it easy, Amber. If you start to feel dizzy or weak, then come
back in. If you start to bleed heavy or get any strong pains,
stronger than normal menstrual cramps, then you need to come back
immediately,” he instructed, looking at me worriedly.

I
nodded
in confirmation. “I will. I need
to go. Thanks for looking after me,” I replied, already making my
way to the door. I didn’t stop to look back; I walked as fast as I
could over to the taxi rank and jumped in the first available cab,
giving them my father’s address.

I grabbed my
phone and checked the battery, setting up a new family group with
Ja
ke, Liam, Johnny, Ruby, and my mom’s
numbers in it.

I typed a
message to Jake
, ready to send it when I
got there. I guessed it was about fifteen minutes of fast driving
from the police station to my father’s house - that would be plenty
long enough to get my father to drop the charges and for Jake to
get there before anything happened. At least, I hoped it
was.

When the cab
pulled up outside his house I was so nervous
that my hands were shaking. “You OK there, sweetheart?” the
driver asked, looking at me concerned.

“
Yeah
, I’m fine. Thanks,” I
mumbled, handing him the money, taking deep breaths to try and calm
down.

I shut the
door of the cab and sent
Jake the message
that I had pre-typed:

‘
I’m at Dad’s. Please come and get me,
right now. DON’T CALL ME BACK. Amber x’

Chapter 23

I knocked on the door and held my breath, waiting for
him to answer. The door opened almost immediately. There he stood,
the man that made me lose my baby, the man that’s making my
boyfriend stand against charges of GBH. His face was a mess. He was
right; Liam certainly did a good job. His nose was strapped and
swollen, almost every inch of his face was red and sore looking,
and he had two wicked black eyes. I couldn’t help but be a little
proud of Liam, I knew I shouldn’t be, but my boy was a badass.

He
smiled
.
“
Amber,
come on in. How are you?
”
he asked
politely.

Is he kidding me? How am I?

I walked past
him an
d ignored his question.
“
Let
’
s dispense with
the pleasantries. What is it that you want so that
you
’
ll you drop the charges against
Liam?
”
I asked, willing my voice not to
betray how terrified I was.

He grinned
and turned and walked into the lounge
,
obviously expecting me to follow. As soon as he was out of sight, I
flicked the latch on the door so all Jake had to do was push it
open. Then I followed him into the lounge.

Please let
this work, please.

“
Have a
seat,
”
he instructed, sitting on the sofa
and patting the space next to him. I knew I needed to stay on his
good side, I also knew I needed to stay as close to him as I could,
so I made my way over and sat down, turning in the seat to face him
and getting ready to run if I needed to.

“
So,
who
’
s baby is it? Or
don
’
t you know?
”
he asked, sneering at me.

I could feel
my anger and
grief threatening to spill
over because he was talking about my baby.
“
I lost it thanks to you. Why did you hit me?
”
I asked, trying not to cry.

He
laughed
, shaking his head as if I had
said something stupid.
“
You fucking
deserved it,
”
he said angrily.

“
You hit me
and made me fall and lose my baby. That
’
s
why Liam hit you,
”
I replied,
matter-of-factly.

“
That little
fucker, he always was trouble,
”
he
growled, his hands clenching into fists.

I gulped. Oh
God, this wasn
’
t working!
“
It was your fault. You came around to our house
wanting a fight, you wanted this to happen,
”
I goaded.