by Simone Elise
“So community service, huh?” I smirked at her, taking my hands from her waist.
“Not all of us can get away with crime, Jax,” she threw back at me.
God, it was nice to hear her call me Jax instead of Jackson. “True. So this is your boyfriend then?” I said as relief washed over me. Looks like I wasn’t going to have to threaten anyone. Wait no, I had decided to stop stalking.
“Yes. Go on. Rub it in. Get it over with,” she said as she crossed her arms and pursed lips. A light pink blush crossed her cheeks. Embarrassment suited her.
“So you don’t like roses then?” I didn’t care about community service. If she thought I would, then perhaps she was stupid after all.
“Wait, aren’t you going to come up with some good lines… aka insults?” Amber looked surprised.
“Your brothers will do that for me.”
“Right, of course then will,” she said as she flipped the bird in the car’s direction; I’m sure they saw it.
“The flowers?” I prompted her, and shifted my weight from foot to foot. I hated this feeling. The nerves.
I should just forget it. Amber didn’t give a shit, why should I? She was over me.
“They were from you? I thought dad had put them there because he was sorry for babbling at tea the other night!” Amber uncrossed her arms, and she actually looked sorry. Well, who knew she could be sorry for anything. “I’m sorry. If I’d known they were from you, I…”
“You would what?” I wanted her to finish that sentence; maybe she wasn’t fully over me yet. She would give me another go, right? She had to! It wasn’t every day that I stood in front of a girl asking if she got my flowers.
“Would’ve thrown them in your face,” she finished.
And there went the little chance I had.
“If you think you can buy me back after what you did, with flowers, you are mistaken,” she said as she jabbed a finger in my chest. “You are going to have to do a lot more Mr Jackson Johnston.”
I took the finger from my chest, and held her hand. “Like?”
She puffed her lips, rolling her eyes at my corniness. “I don’t know...”
Smirking, I leaned into her ear, “Well when you do, let me know.”
I wasn’t giving up, she still cared. It she hadn’t, she would have hit me by now, or at least threatened to.
Watching her face twist, I dreaded her next sentence. I knew that face, and that face only meant trouble.
“I have one thing,” she said sweetly, with a very large smirk. What a surprise. She’d thought of something quick though; was that a good thing or a bad thing?
“Of course you do,” I said. I prepared myself for her evil plan. Clearly, whatever her thing was, it wasn’t going to be pleasant.
“Tell my brothers you are dating me.”
That was easy. “Done,” I promised.
She’d said dating, which meant we were back together. Gee, this had worked out easy.
“And...”
Of course there was an and.
“And that you love me,” she pulled her hand out of my grasp. “Then we can be boyfriend and girlfriend again.”
“Not happening,” I said. A bikie didn’t say the word love, especially when it came to a woman. I would be seen as weak, and them being the Shield brothers would take the piss out of me for life.
“Then we’re done.” Amber turned her back to me abruptly, but I saw the hurt in her face before she did.
Why would she ask that of me? Couldn’t she ask for something easier, like a new car or, I don’t know, a house? Or a new gun? I kicked the ground and walked back to the car.
Well, it really was over between us. I wouldn’t say those words to her brothers. Nothing would drive me to say them. NOTHING. My reputation depended on it.
“You all right?” Troy gave me a sideways glance when I slammed the car door.
“Just drive,” I said.
I looked over at Amber, who was stabbing a piece of trash. She couldn’t expect me to say those words. Not to her brothers. I just couldn’t.
Chapter 36
Amber
Smoothing the wrinkles out of the skin tight black dress, I was breathing slowly. After days of doing dirty community service work, it was a relief not have to rock the orange jumpsuit. I let my hair freely swing around my face. Applying my last coat of red lipstick, I swooped up my purse and headed out of my bedroom.
I hadn’t seen Jax since yesterday, when he flatly refused to say he loved me to my brothers, and to be honest, I’d expected it, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t disappointed when he confirmed it. Although, when it came down to it, I was just stupid. What bikie would actually admit to loving a woman?
I reached the top of the stairs, chewing my bottom lip before I went down. I was making the right decision, I knew that, but it didn’t mean that I didn’t feel slightly sad at the thought of leaving Jax behind but it had to be done. I took a stand a long time ago that I wouldn’t fall in love with a criminal; that I would leave this life behind, and it was time I finally put that into action.
Walking down the stairs, I wasn’t surprised to see Troy, Cole and Jackson lounging on the stairs, shirtless. It was a boiling hot day, and the night was now only beginning to cool down.
“So, dad said you are going out with an office jerk?” Cole sniggered at me, when I finally reached the bottom step.
“You mean dad’s business partner’s son,” I corrected him, ignoring Jax all together. “I think dad would have also told you to leave me the fuck alone.” I showed Cole a dry expression before opening the front door.
“You’ll look a bit keen if you wait out in the front for him,” Cole shouted at me, before I slammed the front door.
I gritted my teeth, when I noticed Tyler cleaning his bike. “What are you doing out here?”
Tyler looked up at me, with his carefree smile. “Someone is a little grumpy tonight,” he teased.
“Nervous.” I said as I walked towards him. “This guy dad has set me up with, well, he isn’t a nobody.” Tyler was the most approachable out of all my brothers, followed closely by Adam. Actually, where was Adam?
“Yeah, don’t worry, we know… done our homework.” Tyler placed his dirty rag on the bike. “You know dad won’t care if you don’t go out with him,” Tyler’s voice softened, and instantly my face melted into a smile for him. Although he was covered in tattoos, and his hair was messy, he really didn’t suit the bad boy image he had.
“Can you keep a secret?” I lowered my voice and Tyler nodded his head, walking away from his bike, and standing at the bottom of the porch steps, looking up at me interested. “I asked dad to set me up with him.”
“What for?” Tyler’s eyes were wide, and, by his look, it was clear he thought I was crazy.
“Jackson and I broke up,” I muttered, fiddling with my purse. “But that isn’t the main reason.” I knew the boys knew about my community service, but I was overly thankful that not one of them had brought it up, and I think dad had had some role to play when it came to that. “I broke up with Blake because I wanted to get out of this life, and I guess Jackson made me forget that for a while until...”
“Until?” Tyler prompted.
“Until he reminded me why I made that decision in the first place.” I glanced at the car lights coming up the driveway. “I can’t keep making the same mistakes,” I added.
Tyler sighed, and nodded his head “The past can’t be left behind little sis. You need to remember that.” He gave me a pat on the shoulder, then he walked up the stairs, past me. “Good luck on your date.”
“Thanks,” I said to his retreating back, before he closed the front door. Nerves burst inside me, as I looked back to the car, now coming to a halt at the bottom of the porch. Why the heck was I so nervous?
The car door opened, and I catapulted into an unnatural state of panic.
“Amber!” Scott smiled at me, getting out of the car.
“Scott!” I sudde
nly felt a lot less nervous, seeing his easy attitude. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Well.. let’s hope I don’t let you down.” Scott smiled at me and walked to stand in front of me. “These are for you…” he handed me a bunch of long stemmed roses.
“You brought these for me?” I was astonished. First date, and he’d arrived with flowers.
“Come on. I am sure I’m not the first guy to give you flowers on your first date.” Scott smiled freely at me, catching me off guard. What was I meant to say to that? Surely I couldn’t tell him that he was actually the first guy I had dated who wasn’t a criminal; in fact, this was like the first date I had ever been on.
“”So should we get going?” I smiled smoothly at him. He offered me his hand, and I willingly took it. First date with a real guy; I was actually excited about this! Though I knew deep down I wasn’t over Jax.
“You didn’t want to put the roses in water?” Scott asked as he walked me to his car.
I cringed when I heard the front door open. Scott naturally turned around to see who it was, still holding my hand. I slowly turned around and I met Jax’s eyes.
“You must be Scott?” Cole jumped down the porch steps and reached a hand out towards Scott, which Scott shook. ”Cole,” he introduced himself. “Amber’s brother.”
“Nice to meet you,” Scott said politely, but I noticed the change in his voice; it was more businesslike now, far from soft and carefree.
“We’re leaving,” I said through gritted teeth to Cole, and shot a deadly look up at Jax and Troy, who were still standing on the porch. Why the heck couldn’t they put a top on? There bikie tattoos were on display for the world to see.
“No worries, I won’t be a minute,” Cole said as he shot a dry smile my direction, before stepping into Scott’s personal space. ”Just wanted to make sure that Scott here knows a few things.”
I crossed my arms. “I think he knows a hell of a lot more than you Cole so we best be going,” I announced.
I was surprised to see that Scott was actually not backing down to my brother; instead, he let go of my hand, crossed his arms and spoke up. “As Amber said, we have somewhere to be.”
“Do you know who we are?” Cole’s voice had dipped into a threatening hiss. “We just want to make sure that you know Amber is very important to us.”
“Messaged received.” Scott said dryly, and my insides were on fire with hate right now. Who did Cole think he was!
“Cole…” I started, but Cole being the rude person he was, just cut me off.
“Hurt her, and we will find you,” Cole said, his lip curving in a nasty manner, “And trust me when I say, you don’t want to get on our bad side.”
“Cole, get back in the house now!” I shouted and pointed to the mansion behind him. I did notice Jax looking too smug for his own good.
“Actually, Amber...” Scott said, taking a few steps away from Cole, “I think tonight was a mistake.”
“What!?” I watched Scott move around to the driver’s side of the car.
“I just wanted to take you out for a nice meal, and I was hoping something more would develop in time,” Scott said as he smiled at me pitifully. “I just wanted a simple relationship. This...” he glanced at my brothers, “Is not something I’d like to get involved in.”
“Please Scott, come on! They won’t do anything!” I could not believe I was begging this guy to take me out!
“Sorry Amber, but I just don’t have time for drama,” he said as he glanced at my brothers once more. He shot me a smile and got into his car.
I stood there gobsmacked, my mouth hanging open as I watched Scott pull away. I turned around to see Cole with a large smirk on his face. “How dare you!” I said, and pushed him hard. “Who the heck do you think you are!”
“I’m doing you a favor!” He grunted at me. “You don’t really want to end up that man’s trophy wife.”
“Oh piss off Cole!” I shoved past him and stormed up the porch steps. “And you!” I pointed at Jax, who was sitting on the window ledge, looking smug. “Wipe that grin off your face!”
“Don’t take your hormones out on me,” he said calmly as he looked up at me. “Not my fault you got dumped.”
I clenched my fists, shaking with rage. Not his fault? He was the one standing on the porch acting like the muscle. “God you are insufferable!”
“Just go inside already Amber,” Troy said as he put out his cigarette. “We actually have other things to do tonight.”
I shook my head. How dare they! They had things to do, and he was getting annoyed as if I was stopping them from doing them! Well for his information I had plans tonight too, until he helped ruin them!
I stepped up to Troy, straightening up to my full height, challenging him. “Tonight was the last time. Consider your stay here over,” I announced. My voice was like a calm threatening storm. “I’m going to make sure that by the end of the week, dad has all of you kicked out, including your mutt.”
Jax scoffed at my reference to him, but I didn’t turn around to look at him. I was dead serious; I had had enough. I had dealt with them being there, but I was done.
“Get out of my sight,” Troy said as he gave me a hard look, which I brushed off easily. He thought he was the one with the most influence over dad. Being club President had gone to his head. He walked around with authority, and, for a while, I let him push me around. But not any longer.
“Gladly,” I barked, and opened the front door, slamming it with great force behind me.
Maybe it was time to face facts; I’m not the good girl. I’m the girl who carries a gun in her handbag.
Taking my heels off and bolting up the stairs, I thought - if the boys were fighting dirty, I could too.
Time to get back to business, and the first thing to do was to get dad to kick these good-for-nothing- bikies out of the house so I could return to doing what I did best.
Behave like a criminal.
Chapter 37
I softly cracked open the window, and then slid into the dark study. Carefully, I closed the window behind me, making sure not to make any noise. Dull, soft music floated from under the closed wooden doors, and I positioned myself in the large armchair, and waited.
Pulling the gun out from behind my back and placing it on my lap, I could hear the thudding of footsteps get louder as someone walked towards the room. I was pleased when the door opened up, and the lights were flicked on. Looked like I wouldn’t spend the whole night waiting in the dark after all.
Scott walked towards his desk, with a scotch glass in hand.
“Didn’t take you as a scotch drinker,” I said, breaking the silence with an evil little smile. Scott spun around, dropping his glass. “That will stain,” I said as I twisted my head to the side, enjoying the panic on his face. “Don’t be scared Scott, I just came to chat,” I offered.
I saw his eyes move to the gun in my lap. People always took you more seriously when you were carrying one of these babies.
“What are you doing in my house?” he gulped, looking terrified. It was wrong, how much I was enjoying this. “How did you get in here?” he frowned.
In his defense, he did have a very good security system, but just like so many other people, he relied too much on technology.
I looked at him calmly. Strangely, the calmer one was, the more worried one’s victim tended to be. “You do have a very good security system…” I said as I picked up the gun in my lap and turned it in my hand, studying it aimlessly. “But not good enough,” I finished.
“What do you want?”
Right now, he was most likely thinking I was here because I was crazy enough to chase him down for bailing on me.
“I have an offer. Consider it a… business proposition.” I got up from the chair smoothly, and walked towards him.
“What would that be?” he said, trying to keep his eyes on me, but every few moments, he would glance down at the gun in my hand.
“I think you shou
ld take a seat Scott.”
I really didn’t like drama; I sucked at it to be honest. I hated the class, but most of all, I hated acting. Lucky for me however, my acting skills didn’t suck, and they were about to be put to the test.
***
“Amber!” my Dad hollered from the dining room, as if on cue. Readying myself, I took the smile off my face and walked into the dining room with a sour expression.
“Have a seat,” Dad said as he nodded to the empty chair to his right, next to Troy.
“I’m not hungry,” I said as I glanced at Jax briefly. Why did he have to look so damn good in the morning?
“I didn’t ask if you were.” Dad’s voice was stern and I slowly made my way to the empty chair. I had just sat down when he started. “How could you do that to Scott?” Dad placed his fork down. “Do you know how that makes me look? You canceling on him like that?”
“I’m sorry dad,” I said as I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to look nervous. “But I just couldn’t go out with him last night; nerves got the better of me.” I saw Cole look blankly at me from across the table, in fact, I reckon all my brothers and the mutt were shocked. They probably expected me to give Cole up to our dad.
“Well… I…” Dad frowned at me. Was he expecting me to rant at him? No, I had a better plan than that; much better.
“But it actually worked out better dad,” I said as I grinned sheepishly, looking down at my plate. “We have a date tomorrow night, and he understood about last night. He’s a really nice guy.”
Dad looked pleasantly surprised. “Well, that’s excellent,” he smiled proudly at me. “He is a good guy.”
“I think so too dad,” I gushed, and got to my feet. “I’d better get going. I’m doing extra credit work before school.”
“Ok darling,” dad beamed at me.
I kept my head straight, not acknowledging anyone else at the table as I walked past.
“Amber, wait a second,” Dad stopped me. Turning around, I looked at him. Happiness had engulfed his face. “You’re really growing up, I’m proud of you. You’re showing a new side; a better side,” he said.