Chapter 29 Amber #2
The headache is gone. Completely forgotten. In its place is a warmth so profound it makes my toes curl in my boots. I’m not just Amber the survivor, or Amber the single mom.
I’m Amber. And I am theirs.
Jude and Norah weave back through the crowd, slipping into their seats just as the principal taps the microphone, sending a squeal through the speakers.
“I’m so glad y’all made it to this…”
The principal is still talking when my phone buzzes against my thigh. I ignore it, focusing on Maisie, who looks like a tiny general standing behind the podium. She adjusts her glasses, takes a deep breath, and launches into her opening statement about the digestive system of ceramic gnomes.
She’s incredible. She’s confident, loud, and funny. But my phone buzzes again. And again.
I pull it out of my pocket to silence it.
“Trouble?” Eli whispers, leaning close.
“Just Stella,” I whisper back, forcing a smile. “She forgets I’m in a different time zone.”
I shut the ringer off and slip the phone back into my pocket. Eli squeezes my knee under the bleacher, a silent comfort.
Maisie is killing it. She’s adding to Tyler’s points with dramatic hand gestures, using a diagram she drew on poster board.
I catch Jude filming her on his phone, a massive grin splitting his face. Norah is dabbing her eyes with a tissue, looking proud and weepy.
The debate flies by. It feels like five minutes and five hours all at once. When the moderator finally announces the end of the round and the judges retreat to deliberate, the room explodes in applause and shouting.
Maisie beams, scanning the crowd until she spots us. She waves frantically.
We stand as one, clapping until our hands sting. Maisie runs over, launching herself at Jude first, then tackling me.
“I did it! I won!”
“You were amazing,” I say, kissing her forehead. “The gnome argument was inspired.”
“Thanks!” She bounces over to Knox, Eli, and Fallon. “Did you see? Did you hear?”
“We heard,” Knox says solemnly.
Maisie giggles wildly.
As everyone begins to shuffle out of the gymnasium, chatting about the matches, I feel my phone vibrate again. It’s a relentless, aggressive buzzing.
Not a text. A call.
I pull it out, my stomach sinking. The screen is dark, but the vibration persists. I reject the call, and a text pops up immediately.
I see you.
Another follows. I see your new friends.
Then a picture loads. It’s grainy, taken from a distance, but clear enough to make my blood run cold.
It’s of me and Knox, kissing in the alley behind the restaurant yesterday. Another of me and Maisie and Norah in the flower shop.
One of Dorian and his mom outside the hospital. And one of us arriving here.
Attached is a final text. Come outside. Alone. Or people will be hurt.
My heart stutters, then kicks into a painful rhythm. I look around, panic clawing up my throat. The gymnasium is crowded. Parents, students, siblings.
I spin toward Jude. “I have to... I need to take this. Can you guys watch Maisie?”
“What? Amber, what’s wrong?” Jude frowns, instantly going on high alert.
“Stella has an emergency.” I hate lying to him, but I can’t tell him Luke is here. I can’t have him go all Alpha protective and ruin Maisie’s night. Or worse, get hurt.
“We’ve got her,” Ryker says, stepping in, placing a heavy hand on Jude’s shoulder. “Go. We’ll talk to the teacher.”
“I’ll be five minutes.”
“Amber,” Eli says, standing up. “I’m coming with you.”
“No,” I say, a little too sharply. “I need to handle this. Just... watch them for me? Please?”
Eli hesitates, searching my face, then nods slowly. “Okay. We’ll be right here.”
“Thank you.”
I turn and flee toward the exit, my hands shaking so badly I can barely grip the strap of my bag. I push through the heavy metal doors and step out into the freezing night air.
The temperature drop is immediate, biting at my skin.
The parking lot is a sea of cars, headlights cutting through the darkness. My phone buzzes again, a harsh vibration against my hip.
Start walking. Now.
I move toward the far lot, walking as fast as I can without breaking into a run. The wind whips around me, cutting right through my thin sweater.
I reach the edge of the overflow lot, near the line of trees that separates the school from the woods.
A black minivan is idling there, the engine running, the exhaust puffing white smoke into the cold air.
I stop. I can’t move my legs. They feel like lead weights.
The driver’s side window rolls down with a mechanical whir.
Luke is wearing a blue baseball cap pulled low, but I’d know that jawline anywhere. He looks older, tired, and he’s sweating despite the cold.
His eyes are the same—dark, flat—but his pupils are blown wide, darting around like a trapped animal. He’s high. The smell of stale whiskey and something chemical wafts out of the window.
On his hand, I can still see the scarred-over bite marks he got the last time he tried to attack me. Stella’s dogs defended us.
It all ended with Jude and his pack in prison for assaulting Luke, but it gives me a grim sort of satisfaction to know Luke is the one with the permanent marks.
“Get in, Amber,” he says. His voice is exactly as I remember. Smooth, condescending. “We need to talk.”
“No,” I say. My voice trembles, but I stand my ground. “You need to leave. You can’t be here. There’s a restraining order.”
He laughs, a dry, ugly sound that turns into a wet cough. “Restraining order. You think a piece of paper matters? I’m not here to hurt you, baby. I’m here because you’re ignoring me. I texted you. I called. I’ve been driving for hours.”
“I didn’t want to talk to you,” I say, gripping my phone tight enough to make the plastic case creak.
“So you moved on, huh?” He nods toward the school, his movements jerky and aggressive. “I saw the suits. Three of them? Really? Moving up in the world, huh? I knew you’d be fucking someone soon enough, just to get a job. You always were good at opening your legs to survive.”
“That’s none of your business,” I say, my chin lifting despite the terror freezing my veins. “Go, Luke. Before I scream.”
He scratches at his neck, his fingernails digging into the skin. “You’re not going to scream. You don’t want the scene. Not with your little girl in there winning her trophy. You don’t want everyone to know what a mess you are.”
“Leave me alone,” I warn him. “I’m done. We’re done.”
“We’re not done until I say we’re done,” he snaps, then immediately composes himself, wiping a hand over his mouth. “I missed you, Amber.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” I whisper.
“I missed you and I missed our daughter,” he says, his voice going sickly sweet, the drugs making his mood swing wildly. “So, I thought I should come by and take you home. We can be a family again.”
“Maisie is my daughter.”
“I’m the reason your daughter is even alive, so get off your fucking high horse,” he spits, the veneer of charm cracking. “I was the one who provided you with shelter and clothes and food when you were shaking in a gutter. You should be thanking me.”
“Fuck you.”
His energy immediately shifts. The high turns black. “Say that again. I dare you.”
Fear seeps into every fiber of my being. I am once again that young, scared woman living under his roof, at the mercy of his temper.
He must notice the dread on my face because he laughs darkly. “Get in the car, Amber.”
“No.”
“I’m not playing with you. Get in the car right now. You don’t want me to get angry. You know what happens when I do.”
Yelling. Bruising. Bones snapping. I remember very well what happened whenever I made him angry.
“Don’t do this. Please,” I beg. I hate how small my voice sounds.
“If I have to repeat myself, things are going to get real bad real fast, bitch,” he snarls, leaning out the window.
“I can start by burning down that pretty little café where your sister-in-law works. Or that bakery. Or maybe that fancy place you work at. I’ll make sure everyone inside feels the heat. ”
My blood turns to ice. “This has nothing to do with them.”
“Then get in the car,” he says, his voice dropping to a terrifying calm. “We’re going to talk. Or I start walking toward that gymnasium right now. I’ll make a scene, Amber. I’ll scream about what a drug addict you are in front of everyone.”
He reaches for the door handle to push it open, but I don’t move. I stare at him, hatred boiling in my veins.
“Get. In.”
“No,” I whisper. “Luke, please.”
“Get in!” he shouts, slamming his hand against the steering wheel, making the horn blare.
The door to my left flies open. Then Knox is running to me.
And he’s not alone.
Fallon is right behind him, his phone already pressed to his ear, his eyes cold and focused as he speaks rapidly into the receiver.
Eli steps up from the darkness, positioning himself between me and the open van door, his back to me.
“Is there a problem?” Knox asks, his voice a lethal quiet. He looks past me, straight at Luke.
Luke looks up, startled. His eyes dart to the three men blocking him. Then he sneers. “The help. And here I thought you were upgrading your life, Amber.”
“She said no,” Knox says. He steps closer, invading Luke’s space, his broad shoulders blocking the light. “Step away from the vehicle.”
Luke looks Knox up and down, assessing the threat. He looks at the suit, the glasses, the sheer size of him, then at Fallon on the phone and Eli’s tense stance.
The drugs make him paranoid, but he’s not stupid enough to take on three Alphas.
“This doesn’t concern you,” Luke says, though he puts the car in reverse, his hand shaking on the gearshift.
“She’s our employee,” Eli says, his tone dropping into a register that vibrates in the cold air. “And our girlfriend. Step away before I drag you out.”
Luke laughs, shaking his head, but there’s sweat beading on his upper lip. “Unbelievable. You pick them up everywhere, don’t you? Trash attracting trash.”
“Leave,” Knox says. “Now. Or we end this right here. Fallon is already on the phone with the cops. They’ll be here any minute now.”
Luke hesitates, his jaw working. He looks at me, his eyes filled with a vile promise. “I’ll be seeing you.”
I feel braver with Knox beside me. “No, you won’t.”
Luke revs the engine once, a threat, then throws the van into drive. It fishtails, tires spinning on the ice, before correcting and peeling out of the lot.
He speeds down the road, vanishing into the dark, the smell of burning rubber lingering in the air.
I stand there, my knees shaking so bad I think I might collapse. Eli turns immediately, his hands gentle on my arms.
“You okay?” he asks, his eyes scanning me for injuries.
“No,” I breathe, leaning into him. “No.”
Knox turns to me, hands gripping my shoulders. “Amber. Look at me.”
“I thought... I thought he was going to...”
“I know.” He pulls me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me, sandwiching me between him and Eli. “Are you hurt?”
“Just scared,” I gasp against his coat. “He said... he said he’d burn the shops. He said he’d hurt Norah.”
“He won’t get close,” Fallon says, lowering his phone. “Police are on the way. They’re putting out an APB on the van.”
“We need to go back inside,” Knox says. “Jude’s waiting. He’ll worry if we are gone too long.”
“I can’t,” I say, pulling back, the cold air rushing in. “I can’t go back in there and pretend. Everyone is waiting for the celebration. I can’t... I need a minute.”
He studies my face, then nods. “Okay. One minute.”
We stand there in the cold, the snow starting to drift down again. My phone buzzes in my hand.
That’s a warning.
Next is fire.
I stare at the screen, the words blurring.
“We need to make sure the police know about the arson threat,” I say, my voice shaking. “He’s high. He’s not going to stop.”
“We’ll talk to the police together,” Knox says, taking the phone from my hand to read the message. He crushes it in his grip. “We’ll tell them everything.”
He takes my hand, lacing his fingers through mine. “Let’s get Jude and the rest. We’re going to the station together. No one splits up.”
I let him lead me back toward the lights of the school, but the cold has settled deep in my bones. The feeling of safety I had earlier is gone, replaced by a sick, familiar dread.
He’s here again. The last time Luke was close to my family, Norah’s pack almost ended up in prison for assaulting him to protect me.
He plays the victim perfectly, and the system protects him.
And now, I’ve put everyone I love in the crossfire.