Officer Williams cleared his throat. “Can you describe the...uh...missing underwear?”
Although Amber certainly wasn't enjoying the situation in any way, shape, or form – she had to admit that it was slightly amusing to see the tiniest of cracks form in Williams' granite-like demeanor. And all over the topic of underpants.
“One is white satin with a pink bow, one pair is red silk, and two are black lace.” Damn! Why couldn’t the pervert have taken the underwear that didn't cost her $500?
A creepy feeling came over her knowing that some stranger had something of hers that was so intimate. Of course, it bothered her that he had taken the earrings and necklace, but she had never worn them. They weren’t her style. They didn’t feel personal, not like her bracelet. She wrapped her fingers around it feeling a little better knowing it was safe and on her wrist.
She stood torn between wanting to clean up and wanting to get out of there.
“We need to ask you some questions.” Officer Williams’ statement made Amber’s heart sink.
The last thing she wanted to do was answer the same questions over and over again. Still, she nodded resignedly. Better to just get it over with. She remembered Seth telling her that the damage was the worst in the front room and bedroom, so she suggested, “Why don’t we go into the kitchen for that?”
Seth let her pass in front of him and as she walked, she felt his hand rest on the small of her back. Just that small contact made her feel less overwhelmed. Having him by her side made her feel like she could face almost anything.
As they sat around her kitchen table, which thankfully was still in one piece, Officer Williams took out his notebook. He flipped it open and began asking her variations of the same questions that he had asked after Bella had been broken into, and again when her car had been vandalized.
She answered all the questions the same way she had the two previous times, except one. The critical one.
“No, I don’t think that this is a coincidence anymore. This is obviously personal.”
“And you said you’re not dating anyone currently.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Even casually?” Officer Williams raised his eyebrow.
Amber knew what he was implying, but casual sex wasn’t really Amber’s cup of tea.
“I went out with someone a few weeks ago. We went to dinner once. I met him there and left alone. It was nothing serious.”
“How did you meet him?”
“I was set up by Wendy – you know, Pam Lawson's sister? She had taken a karate lesson from him and thought he was a nice guy, and that we would hit it off,” Amber explained.
“Has he contacted you since the night you went to dinner?”
“Yes, he’s called a few times. And he's texted.”
“Did he ask you out again?”
“Yes, but I told him I wasn’t interested. Look, I really don’t think he has anything to do with this. He’s a really nice guy.”
Officer Williams did not look impressed by her character evaluation. “What’s his name? I think it’s time I have a talk with him.”
“Brad Porter, but honestly I think it would be a waste of time. He really does not seem like the type to do this. Besides, I know for a fact he’s not the man who broke into my car. I’ve never seen that man before.”
Officer Williams closed his notebook. “That’s all for now. I’ll let you know if we have any more questions.” He rose from the table. “Do you have anyone you can stay with until we catch this guy?”
“No, I’ll be fi-”
“Yes. She does.” Seth’s deep voice startled Amber and she jumped. He had been so quiet during this whole thing she wasn’t expecting him to say anything.
Officer Williams looked back and forth between Seth and Amber, probably trying to figure out why she almost jumped out of her skin when he had spoken.
“I thought you said you weren’t dating anyone,” he said as his eyes suspiciously narrowed at her.
“I’m not. I mean...we’re not dating.” Amber motioned her hand between herself and Seth.
Officer Williams took a step closer to Seth. “I remember you when you were growing up. You got in a lot of trouble back then.”
“Yes, sir, I did,” Seth stated plainly, offering no excuses or explanations. He stared at the older cop with respect, but his gaze also made it clear that he was not in the slightest bit intimidated. She wasn’t sure how he managed to do that, but he did.
Officer Williams backed down, as Amber suspected most people did when faced with that look from Seth. The older cop's face softened, if only slightly. “I expect you've grown up quite a bit since then,” he conceded.
“Yes, sir,” Seth said evenly.
Williams nodded. “Well, we'll be going, then. You have my card, right?” he asked Amber, who nodded.
“Call right away if you remember anything, or if you discover anything else is missing,” Williams instructed Amber before turning to leave.
Amber was surprised to see that Williams actually patted Seth gruffly on the shoulder as he passed through the doorway on his way out of the kitchen. Amber shook her head in amazement. What was this effect that Seth Sloan had on people?
--- ~ ---
Seth knew that some people in this town would not be able to let go of his past. He was actually surprised it had taken Williams this long to bring it up. He didn't blame the man. Hell, if he were in charge of Amber's safety in any official capacity, he'd probably be uneasy about leaving her in the care of a former miscreant, as well.
Seth followed Williams to the door so that he could lock it and secure the deadbolt after the cops had left. When he returned to the kitchen, he saw Amber sitting with her elbows on the table and her head dropped in her hands.
“Amber.”
She looked up him and he noticed her skin looked pale.
“Do you need help packing a bag?” he asked.
“What? No.” Her brows furrowed as she shook her head as if trying to clear it. “I mean...I’m not leaving, so I don’t need to pack a bag.”
“Fine,” he answered.
Her eyes widened in surprise, “Wow, I would've thought you'd have had more to say about that.”
Seth just stood there silently, so Amber stood and walked past him. “Well, thanks for everything. I really appreciate it. I’ll call if I need-”
Seth knew Amber wasn’t going to like this. “I’m not leaving.”
Her head jerked up. “What?”
“You're not staying here by yourself.”
“Look, I’ll be fine. I can take care-”
“Amber,” Seth interrupted. “Either you come to my place or I’m staying here. You will not be alone until we catch this guy.”
Amber looked around her tossed front room and he could see that she was resigning herself to the inevitable - realizing that it was somewhat difficult to argue from any kind of position of authority when you stood, surrounded on all sides by your violently trashed belongings. She took a deep breath and sighed, “If I go, I have to bring my sewing machine to finish the bridesmaids dresses.”
A sense of relief washed over him. “Where is it? I’ll put it in your car while you pack.”
She walked into the laundry room that was off the kitchen and Seth saw that Amber had made quite a workstation for herself back here. There were two sewing mannequins, a state of the art sewing machine on what looked like a custom table, as well as a ton of different fabrics and drawings. It was amazing.
“Is this where you design?”
A small smile tugged on her lips. “I design everywhere - in the grocery store, at the DMV, in the doctor’s office. Everything inspires me. This is where I work on the designs I feel are good enough to produce.”
“I like it,” he said and he really did. The space felt like…Amber.
“Thanks,” pride filled Amber’s voice as she looked around the room.
“Do you need the table and the mannequins too?”
&nbs
p; “Yeah, I guess I do. The table folds and I just need one of the forms. Both should fit in my backseat.” She headed out but not before touching Seth’s arm and saying, “Thank you, Seth. For everything. I’m so glad you’re home.”
He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Her touch on his arm had immediately shot a jolt of arousal through him. His body did not seem to understand what his mind knew, which was that her touch was innocent. He tried to shake off his lust and get his mind focused on the task at hand.
As he packed up her sewing machine, his mind went to work trying to piece together any clues it may have missed. He needed to figure out who was harassing Amber. Even though Officer Williams was now looking at that guy Amber had gone out with once as a person of interest, Seth didn’t think he had anything to do with it. Which wasn't to say that Seth didn't hate the guy for the simple crime of going out with Amber – that was a given. But Seth knew in his gut that Brad Porter wasn’t the person behind all of this.
Seth had a feeling that this was the work of the man that vandalized Amber’s car, and that he was the same man that had also broken into Bella and assaulted Amber. It was all there, in the rage he exhibited as he crushed her car windows. This was highly personal. Which made it all the more strange that Amber had never laid eyes on the man. Who was he? What was Seth missing?
The man had to know Amber...but Amber didn’t know him. So, was he a stalker? Was he obsessed with Amber? Was that why her panties had been stolen?
Seth may not have had all the answers to his questions, but he did know two things for sure. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to Amber, and he would find the person doing this and stop him. That was indisputable.
Chapter Twenty-one
Seth felt the corners of his mouth twitch as paid the delivery boy at his front door. The poor kid had almost tripped over himself when he had seen Amber walk by to go into the kitchen. Seth didn’t blame the guy. Amber had that effect on people.
Seth shut the door and brought the pizza box to the table. Amber’s stomach growled.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“I love pizza. Almost as much as brownies.” She opened the lid and grabbed a piece.
Seth smiled. He was not only glad to see her eating, he was also glad that she wasn’t one of those women who felt self-conscious eating in front of people. He had spent time with several women like that and it had always frustrated him.
Plus, the sight of Amber stuffing her face was in such opposition to the air of elegance and grace that she effortlessly exuded that, well - it was just damn cute.
Seth went to grab a beer out of the fridge. “Do you want a beer?”
“No.” She shook her head explaining, “After the hangover I had last week from my wine, I think I’m good. But I’d love water.”
Seth grabbed a couple bottles of water and sat down at the table. He picked up a slice of pepperoni pizza and, as they sat eating in companionable silence, he realized how strange it was that she was here, in his apartment, and they were eating pizza.
After a couple of slices, Amber looked around and asked, “Are all of your things still in boxes somewhere in the back, or have they not arrived yet?”
“I don’t have a lot of stuff. This is it.”
“Oh. Okay.” Amber nodded as she took a drink of water.
Seth looked around his apartment and saw that it was pretty bare. He had gotten a lamp to put beside the couch and a small black coffee table to hold the remote. Besides those things, he had the couch (which had come with the apartment), his flat screen television, and the kitchen table at which they currently sat. Other than that, the place was empty.
The main reason he had rented this place was because it was a secure building and you had to be buzzed in to enter. He had a lot of family in town and they loved to pop by. Seth liked the buffer that the extra step provided. It seemed to make him less accessible.
And, he had chosen this specific unit because the far wall was floor to ceiling glass that overlooked the river. Watching the river at sunset had quickly become one of his favorite things to do.
He had moved around so much in the military that he had always kept only the essentials. It made relocating less of a chore. So, because of that, he didn’t have furniture, or much in the way of small personal items either.
“I like to keep things simple,” he explained.
“Obviously.” Amber smiled as she pulled out another slice.
Her phone rang and she pulled it out of her purse.
“Hey, Katie,” she said as she answered the call. She paused. “I’m okay...No, you don’t need to do that. I’m staying at Seth’s.”
Seth could hear Katie’s scream through the phone from across the table. Amber smiled and her eyes danced with amusement at her friend’s reaction to her new living situation.
“How did that happen?” Amber said. Seth assumed she was repeating Katie’s question for his benefit. “Well, Seth said that it was either I stay with him or he was staying with me. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see where the mysterious Seth Sloan lived.”
He knew she was giving him a hard time. He shook his head at her; her smile just got bigger.
“Well,” she said looking around once more, “it’s not cluttered, that’s for sure.”
His smile grew even wider. He had to admit, he found her very sexy when she was being a smart ass.
“What’s he doing? Hmmm...well, currently, he’s sitting across from me eating pizza. And if my mind reading skills are up to par, then I would say he desperately wants to call me a smart ass right now.”
Seth lifted his water bottle and nodded his head indicating she was correct.
“Okay, I will. Thanks for checking on me. Love you, too. Bye.” Amber hung up the phone and set it on the table.
She and Seth sat in silence; staring at each other.
“Did you ever imagine we would be here, sitting in your apartment, eating pizza?”
“No,” he answered honestly.
“Me either.” Then she lifted her finger, pointing as if she just remembered something. “Well, actually that’s not true. I imagined us in all kinds of situations. I think, if I recall correctly, one of them was actually eating pizza. Although you had a fireplace in my version.” She brought her water bottle to her mouth.
He wasn’t sure if she was kidding. “Did you really think about me? About us?”
She sputtered a little, almost choking on her water. Then she looked at him as if he was a couple of cards short of a full deck before asking, “Are you kidding?”
“No.”
“I thought you knew about the whole Mystery Man thing.” Her face still filled with disbelief.
“Jason said something about it, but I didn’t ask what he meant.”
“I see. Umm, so...yeah. You could definitely say that I thought about you,” she said as she stood and cleared the paper plates.
“A lot?” he asked even though he knew he really shouldn’t be going down this line of questioning.
“Depends on how you define a lot.”
“Every day.”
“Oh, well, by that definition then, yes. A lot.” She dropped the plates in the trash and came back over to the table. After seeing the look on his face she asked, “Does that really surprise you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you left.” Even to himself, he sounded like a broken record. A childish broken record, at that. He really needed to let it go. Amber was dealing with enough without him adding his shit on top of it. “Never mind.”
She sat back down at the table, pinning him with her stare. “Do you know why I was in DC that night?”
“No.”
She swallowed hard and he saw her eyes were filling up with tears.
“Amber, stop. It doesn’t matt-”
“No. It does matter. I want to tell you.” Her voice was a little shaky but her eyes looked determined. “I was there to receive a purple heart on behalf
of my brother, Aaron, who had been killed ten months before in Afghanistan. He was more than just my brother, he was my best friend.”
Tears began falling down her face. “He was the only sibling I had, and growing up it was just my mom, Aaron, and me. My mom took his death even harder than I did. She started drinking. Heavily. By the time we went to DC, she had already been through one rehab stint. At the ceremony, she made a big scene. It was a nightmare. I had finally gotten her back to her room and into bed when I came down to the bar that night.
“When you sat down, honestly, I had never had that kind of an immediate reaction to someone. I couldn’t even look at you. Then you stepped in and took care of that asshole, which just magnified it. We went up to your room and...well, honestly it was just so much to process. Too much, after the year I had just had. I don’t handle emotional things well, and I know it was just a one night stand, but - ”
“It was more than that,” Seth interrupted. He wanted to hear what she had to say but watching her sit across from him with tears streaming down her cheeks was breaking his heart.
“Right, yes. But you know what I mean. I think I panicked because the connection I felt with you was so…”
“Intense,” he offered.
“Yes. Intense.” She nodded her head. “I woke up in your bed and started thinking about what the possible outcomes would be when you woke up. I didn’t know what to expect or how I was supposed to act. I know this sounds ridiculously cliché and you don’t have to believe me, but I don’t have one night stands.”
“I believe you. Neither do I.”
She nodded, looking pleased that he had said that. “And I was young. I was only twenty-two.”
“What?” Seth asked in shock. Then he realized that he was only twenty six at the time, and that made him feel better.
“Yeah. That’s young, right? It shocked me too when I was talking to the girls about it after your homecoming party. My point in saying all of this is not to make excuses, but just to explain to you why I left. I want you to know that night was one of the best nights of my life. It just happened to occur in the middle of the worst time in my life.”
My Everything - Seth & Amber Page 16