Before Al-Anon, if her mom had needed something, Amber had given it to her. No questions asked. Whether that meant that Amber ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a month to save on the grocery bill or walked to work in the snow to save on gas, she had done it, and happily. It was for her mom, after all!
She had thought at the time that she had been helping the situation, helping her mom. The support group had taught her that she was actually hurting her mom by enabling the self-destructive behavior that she was engaged in.
For the past four years, Amber had cut off all financial support to her mother. Completely. Other than getting her into rehab facilities and paying for her stays there, she had not assisted her in any way.
Until last night.
Damn. Amber knew that she should have kept going to those meetings. If she had, then none of this would be happening right now. She would have been in the right mindset to deal with the distressed call from her mother the night before! Now her mother might be dying...might be dead...
Amber shook her head to clear it. She knew exactly where she had gone wrong. She had heard fear in her mom’s voice and she had reacted impulsively. Instead of rationally thinking of a way to help her mom, as soon as the line had gone dead she had sent the money. Now, her mother’s life was hanging in the balance.
As Amber pulled into the parking structure, under the Harper’s Crossing Community Hospital Parking sign, something occurred to her. If this was the hospital that the emergency crew had taken her to, then that must mean that her mother had been close by this entire time; most likely even in Harper’s Crossing itself. Amber felt so stupid.
How had she not known that? What good was a genius IQ and photographic memory if she couldn’t even figure that out? Had she just been so preoccupied with Seth coming home and the break-ins that she had completely ignored clues that would have told her how her close her mom was all this time?
As soon as she parked, she jumped out of the car. She was half-way to the elevators when she realized that she had left her purse in the car.
Damn it, she told herself angrily, get your head on straight! She may have failed her mother once, where the money was concerned, but that only meant that she needed to redouble her efforts to be there for her now. She needed to be focused, and strong.
She would just hurry back to her car, quickly retrieve her purse, and then head in to the hospital. Just a short delay, she told herself, don't beat yourself up too much – regroup and get in there!
Before she could even make a move, though, a strange feeling came over her. She stopped and looked around but didn’t see anyone. However, she did notice that since she had been in such a rush, she had parked in a dark, secluded corner of the lot.
She grimaced. Seth would give her hell about that – but it did at least set her mind at ease to have an idea where the sense of dread had come from. It was a good bet that the position of her car had caused the weird feeling.
Her thumb pushed the button on her key fob that unlocked the door. She saw her taillights blink as she heard the familiar click that signaled the car's response. She reached out to grab the door handle, but just as she felt her fingertips brush the steel, she was stopped in her tracks by the now-familiar foul smell of body odor and alcohol. She stiffened.
Oh, God. No.
In the next instant, she felt a cold, sharp blade press against the tender flesh of her throat and a large arm wrapped around her body, pinning both of her arms helplessly to her side. Panic swept through her like a rushing river.
She wanted to struggle – every instinct she possessed was telling her to bring out her claws and fight like a trapped animal – but the knife's edge of steel she felt cutting into her neck kept her still and silent.
She felt her feet dragging on the floor as she was forcibly pulled backwards to the darkest corner of the lot. Amber tried to dig in her heels to slow their progress, tried to make herself as heavy as possible, and tried to pull away – but his grip was simply too tight.
With every slight movement, she felt the sting of the blade as it dug into her skin.
She wanted to scream but his hand that held the knife was jammed painfully against her windpipe. She didn’t think she would be able to get any sound out.
“Now, now. Just stay still. I just want to talk to you.” A man’s gruff voice spoke into her ear.
Wait! She knew that voice! She’d heard it before, although never in person. It had always been on the other end of a telephone line.
The man holding her captive with a knife to her neck was Bubba.
“Now, you are quite a difficult lady to get alone time with. That new boyfriend of yours watches you like a hawk.” Bubba’s arm squeezed her tighter, his voice becoming oily and slippery. “But I’ve got you all to myself now, don’t I?”
“What…do…you want?” Amber managed to whisper past the pressure he was applying to her throat.
“I just want to talk to you,” his voice sounded strained, she felt his forearm push harder against her stomach.
Amber couldn’t think. She couldn’t move. She felt tears forming in her eyes.
“I knew you’d come. I wasn’t sure if you would have your bodyguard with you, but I knew you’d come to see your mama.” Bubba's sinister tone made bile rise up in Amber’s throat. “I thought I was going to have to wait hours while you went in and visited her, but you didn’t even make it inside, did ya?”
“Did you make her OD? Did you do this to her?” Amber felt herself losing it. Her entire body was shaking and her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest.
She heard Seth’s voice in her head.
“The most important thing to remember when someone is trying to overpower you is to remain calm.”
Calm. She needed to stay calm.
“Know yourself and how you respond in fear. Do you cry? Do you scream? Do you freeze? Sometimes just being self-aware makes it easier to respond correctly.”
She froze and cried. Great. Well, at least I know that about myself now, she thought sardonically. If I manage to survive long enough to get into another life-threatening situation again in the future, I will be sure to put that knowledge into practice.
Now what? What else? Oh right!
“Show anger not fear.”
Okay, so get pissed. Don’t be scared. Seth’s voice sounded in her head again.
“Your best weapons are the edge of your hand, your elbow, and your heel.”
Okay, good. So she just needed to wait for her opportunity. All she had to do was stay calm and bide her time.
“This didn’t have to happen. All you had to do was give her the money,” he seethed.
“I did,” she stated firmly.
“What?! That chump change you gave her last night? I’m not talking about lunch money, little girl.” He pressed the blade harder against her neck as his beard scraped against her cheek. “I’m talking about real money. Susan's been sayin’ you have over a hundred thousand from that store of yours.”
“I don’t have that kind of money,” Amber made sure her voice sounded strong.
“You selfish little bitch! What kind of a daughter doesn’t help her mother?” he growled. Disdain and rage dripped from his words.
Amber tried to do what Seth had outlined.
No fear. Anger. Stay calm.
She saw headlights flash on the wall across from them from a car pulling in. This was her chance. Seth’s words flashed in her head.
“You need to aim for the parts of the body where you can do the most damage. The eyes, nose, throat, groin and knees. It doesn’t matter how big and strong a man is, these areas are his weakest points.”
The distraction of the headlights caused him to loosen his grip on Amber just the slightest bit, but it was enough. She seized the opportunity. Using one of the moves that Seth had taught her, she dropped her body weight without warning, causing him to be knocked off balance, and then brought her elbow straight down on his groin.
> He dropped to the ground, writhing in pain.
The instant he released her, Amber made her feet start moving. She ran. She didn't take time to plan where she was going, she just needed to get away from the murderously angry – and very possibly drugged and crazed – Bubba.
She made it around the corner and then stumbled over a cement wheel stop. She flew forward, tumbling headlong, and her head slammed against a car window before she went crashing to her knees.
Pain shot up her body. Her vision blurred with the sheer physical torture, but she didn't let it stop her. She pushed off the cement floor, standing unsteadily but still poised to run again, when she saw blood dripping on the ground.
Oh, God! She was bleeding.
Her legs were shaking. She tasted something metallic in her mouth and knew it must be blood. She began to tremble violently.
No! She could not give in to the temptation to panic, or to pass out. She needed to get moving again. Fast. She forced her legs to start pumping again. She ran.
People. She needed to find people. She needed help. She tried to scream but nothing came out. She could only hear the sound of a loud buzzing in her ears. She felt as if her body was filled with lead and everything was moving in slow motion. She felt like she was trying to run through waist-high water, or that her feet were mired in quicksand.
God! This was like a living, breathing, bleeding nightmare!
She ran past the elevators to the exit. She knew that it led out to the catwalk which stretched over the main street to the hospital. People would be on it. People were always on it.
She reached for the doorknob and she felt arms envelope her, and along with them, a more sharp sensation of terror than she had ever experienced in her life.
She had been this close to escaping, and now she would likely be killed, mere feet from rescue.
“NOOO!” she screamed, louder than she thought was possible.
“Amber!” Seth’s voice penetrated through the chaos of her panicked state and the loud buzzing noise that was still sounding in her ears.
She turned her head and saw that Seth was holding her. It was Seth. Not Bubba.
Oh, thank God!
“Seth,” she said breathlessly as she felt her legs collapse beneath her. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as her head fell against his shoulder and she began to sob.
--- ~ ---
Seth’s heart raced as he scooped Amber into his arms. He felt her body go limp against him. He looked down at her face. There was blood. She was bleeding.
“Amber, you’re bleeding. Where are you hurt?”
“I don’t know. He had a knife,” she said shakily through her tears, which were now subsiding.
“Who?” Seth asked, scanning the parking lot.
“Bubba. My mom’s boyfriend, Bubba,” Amber managed.
“He’s here?”
“Yes.”
Seth adjusted Amber in his arms so he could reach his phone.
“Harper’s Crossing Comm-”
“There is an armed man loose in your southeast parking structure. Shut it down. Call the police. Send security and medical personnel. There is an injured female at the northwest door.”
As soon as he heard the receptionist calling the code over the intercom, he hung up so he could assess Amber’s injuries.
Seth knew that panicking would not help in this situation. Normally that would not be a problem for him, but this was Amber. She had to be okay. He could not lose her.
“Amber, did he stab you?”
“No. No, I don’t think so. He had it to my throat,” she said as she tilted her head back, running her fingers along the skin to inspect it.
Her words caused fury to boil up inside of Seth. He was going to kill the man that did this to her. Kill him with his bare hands.
He pulled her hands away gently and his eyes quickly scanned her neck. It was red and she may have bruising. There was a slight perforation in the skin where the blade must have nicked her, but that was definitely not where the bleeding was coming from.
He looked back at her face, which seemed to be where most of the blood was, and noticed that she had some blood oozing from her nose. OK, so most likely it was a nosebleed. Relief battled in his chest with renewed rage.
“Did he hit you?” Seth asked through clenched teeth.
“No.”
“You have a bloody nose.”
“I hit my head when I was running. I tripped.”
Seth held her closer to him, trying not to squeeze her too tightly.
“What does he look like?” He needed some details about the appearance of the man he was going to kill today, otherwise it would be more difficult to hunt his ass down.
“I didn’t really see his face. He grabbed me from behind. He has a beard. I felt it scrape against my cheek. And he’s wearing jeans and a red flannel shirt. And he reeks of alcohol and BO.”
“How tall is he?”
“Not much taller than me, I don’t think. He was behind me the whole time. Then, when I kneed him in the balls and he dropped his arms, I ran. I didn’t look back.”
The exit door flew open as security rushed though on full alert. There were two men. One was Judd North. Seth had gone to school with him. When Judd saw that Seth held Amber, he motioned for the medical personnel.
They came in with a stretcher and, as Seth laid Amber on it, she still hung tightly to his neck. He pulled her arms from behind his neck so that the doctors could take her and examine her.
“No,” she protested as they were wheeling her away, “I don’t want to leave Seth.”
“Amber,” Seth moved beside her, “I’m right here.”
He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. Then he pulled slightly away so that their faces were only an inch apart. “I need you to go with these doctors. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Her golden-green eyes filled with tears once again, “No Seth, please. He has a knife.”
He just stared at her for a moment. If she thought for one minute that he was going to let a knife stop him from going after this guy then she didn’t know him as well as he thought she did. Hell, that knife that he was carrying might very well end up being the very thing that Seth used to kill him.
Her eyes changed from fear to recognition. Resignedly, she said, “Okay, fine, go. But be careful.”
He leaned down and placed one more kiss on her forehead, “I love you.”
He hadn’t meant to say it. He hadn’t even really known for sure that he felt that way until this moment. But he did. He loved her.
Her expression changed instantly from one of worry and pain to complete and utter shock. As they wheeled her out through the exit door he heard her ask one of the doctors, “Did he just say he loved me?”
He almost smiled.
Judd stepped up. “What are we looking for?”
“Male, approximately 5’6 to 5’8. Beard. Red flannel shirt. He’s carrying some kind of blade,” Seth said evenly as they began walking through the garage.
Judd pulled out his radio and gave his team the description. They fanned out. As Seth turned the corner, he saw that several police cruisers were parked at the entrance to the structure.
Seth scanned the area. Where would he go to hide, if he were a drunk and degenerate lowlife? Hmmm. There were two dark corners.
As he made his way silently to the first he heard a low moaning. As he got closer, he was struck by a disgusting odor. He walked around the blue pick-up truck that was parked haphazardly in the space in the corner.
He looked down to see a bearded man in a flannel shirt curled up in the corner, holding his sac, groaning.
Seth took two steps towards him and was standing above him before the asshole even noticed he was there. When the guy did see him, he moved to reach for the knife he had dropped.
Seth was quicker. He had the man up against the wall with the blade shoved against his neck before the older man had even fully extended his arm.
&n
bsp; “Please don’t. I wasn’t going to hurt her,” the man pleaded pathetically, his eyes wide with fear.
Seth could feel anger rushing through his veins. He could easily slit his throat. End him. He wouldn't have a problem with it. This wouldn't be the first time he'd looked right into an enemy combatant's eyes as he killed him, and this slimeball was – by Seth's reasoning – more deserving of death than any of them.
He had put his hands on Amber. He had made her bleed. He had made her cry.
It was time for him to die.
So why wasn't he dead yet?
“Sloan, it’s Officer Williams. Drop the weapon. We’ve got him.”
Seth didn’t make any movement. He just stared into this junkie's eyes.
“Shoot him! He’s gonna kill me!” the man screamed.
Seth pushed the knife harder against the man's throat and spoke in a low, menacing tone. “If I was going to kill you, you would already be dead.”
He stepped away and the man fell to the floor. Three police officers moved in, picking him up and placing him under arrest.
Seth was reeling from a complex mix of emotions. On the one hand, he was disappointed that he hadn't killed the man. On the other hand, he felt a small glimmer of relief – even hope – that maybe he really hadn't transformed permanently into the cold mercenary that he had thought he had. Maybe he really was inching back to who he had been before.
Still, even through this haze of conflicting feelings, he was able to take a measure of satisfaction from the sight of Bubba's urine-soaked pants as the patrolmen dragged him away.
Yeah, sure, maybe making the man who had terrified Amber piss himself in fear wasn't quite as satisfying as snapping his neck would have been. But it was still satisfying.
Officer Williams stepped up to Seth and put his hand on his shoulder. “Good work, son. Fisher says that you might be joining the force. We could use a man like you.”
Williams’ radio went off and he stepped away as he pulled it from his belt.
Seth moved across the parking lot in long strides. He knew that The Colonel was right; he didn’t need to be on the force. He’d seen enough. He’d done enough. He just wanted to be the best man he could be. And to be with Amber.
My Everything - Seth & Amber Page 22