“Hey, Melrose!” Amber said, waving. “Your manager asked me to take you to the hotel. He’s been called away unexpectedly.”
“Really? He didn’t say anything to me,” I replied. It seemed strange that Scott would ask someone to drive me around. He was responsible, if nothing else.
“There wasn’t time. He knows me, it’s all good. My dad’s a friend of his. He knew I’d be able to get you back to the hotel.” That would explain how she was able to get her gifts sent to my hotel room – and second-row tickets to the concert. Everything made sense now.
“Okay then. Is everything alright with the rest of the band?” I started to worry about how big the problem was that he had to deal with. I hoped the boys were all okay.
“Yeah, just some mix-up or something. Hop in and I’ll take you there.” She patted the seat next to her while keeping one hand on the steering wheel. She didn’t even look old enough to drive.
I opened the door and climbed in. The moment I did, she sped out of the parking lot and into the brightness of New York City.
She locked the doors.
But it was okay because Scott knew her, he trusted her enough to get me back to the hotel where I assumed we would regroup. He would probably be in a really bad mood if there was a mix-up.
Amber talked as she drove, barely shutting up. “I was glad to be doing this favor for him, actually. I really wanted to tell you how much I love Two Hearts. I mean, it is really the coolest song ever. I completely understood the message, and don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
“Um, the message?” She was talking so fast it was difficult to keep up with her. If I had a remote control, I would have put her in slow motion and then everything would make sense.
“Yeah, the secret message you put into the song for me. When I heard it, I was so happy. I knew you wanted to be my friend, it was totally like we were always supposed to meet and be together forever.” She flashed me a huge smile and it seemed completely genuine. It didn’t help to settle my nerves.
“I’m glad you enjoyed the song.”
“Oh, I did. And don’t worry, I really won’t tell anyone. I’m not going to run to the media and tell them everything. Between you and me, everything stays a secret.” Amber tapped the side of her nose, like that sealed it.
We were starting to leave the tall skyscrapers behind us and the roads opened up into lush green lawns. I’d never seen this part of New York City before. “Um, this doesn’t look like where the hotel is. Do you need the address?”
“We’re just going to make a little detour first,” she said, casually, like it was all okay.
Except it wasn’t okay. “I have a really busy schedule, I think it would be best to go straight to the hotel. If I get behind, it will cause all the boys to get behind too. Scott would kill me if that happened.”
“It’s okay, he knows about it.”
My hands were shaking but I didn’t want her to know how worried I was. Something about the whole thing just felt wrong, just like the gifts she’d sent me. I pulled out my cell phone. It had been on silent since going into the interview so I didn’t hear anything coming through. I had three missed calls and five messages.
All from Scott.
“Please put that away,” Amber said politely.
“Scott’s left me a few messages, I’ll just give him a quick call to let him know I’m okay with you,” I replied carefully. “Then I’ll put it away. I hate when people are constantly on their phones.”
My thumb just hit Scott’s name in my contact list when Amber suddenly snatched the phone from my hands. She opened her window and threw it out in one swift motion. I was so shocked, all I could do was stare at my hands for a few moments.
“I need that,” I said.
“You don’t need anything anymore. Let’s just talk.” She smiled again like this was perfectly normal. Meanwhile, she was driving me further and further away from any help. We were out in the suburbs now, heading toward who knew where.
“I’d like to go back, please. Or just let me out here, I can find my own way back.”
“That’s not happening. How can you speak to your best friend like that?”
“We’re not best friends.”
“Come on, Melrose. I heard the message in the song, I saw you looking at me at the concert. We’re totally best friends and you know it.”
The girl was insane, she obviously needed help. It wasn’t her fault she was delusional, but I wasn’t a trained psychologist. Now wasn’t a good time to challenge her, I had to get her to trust me so I could find a way to get away from her.
If I was going to get out of this, I needed to play along. “Of course we’re best friends. Sorry, I was just so caught up in my schedule that I forgot there were more important things in life.”
“We’re going to have so much fun together. I’ve got all your favorite foods and movies. We can totally have a marathon in front of the television.”
“That sounds like fun,” I lied. The moment I was alone, I was going to run away as fast as I could. My phone may have been lying by the side of the road somewhere, but I knew how to ride public transport. I could get anywhere back home by bus so I could figure it out here too.
Anything to get away from my new best friend.
“We can sing karaoke together,” Amber continued. She seemed so much happier now I was buying into her fantasy. “I know you like karaoke. I saw the video Cole posted of you singing, it was so cute. You’re really talented, you know that?”
“Thank you. Are you a good singer?”
She nodded her head enthusiastically. “Yeah, of course! Maybe we should record a song together! Yeah! We could play it for your record company and they might give us a contract as a duo. What do you think?”
“I think that’s a great idea.”
“I’m so glad.” She rambled on about it for a while longer as I tried to pay attention to our surroundings. It could have been any suburb in the country. Rows of houses lined the street on both sides, all looking very normal and not like they housed a kidnapper.
Amber eventually pulled into a driveway and the garage door opened automatically for her. She only unlocked the car door once we were inside and the garage was closed again. There was nowhere to run yet.
“Come on, let’s get this party started,” she said, taking my hand and pulling me into the house. It looked like a regular house, with regular furniture, and even a regular tabby cat. It hardly felt real that I was being kept there against my wishes.
“Amber, I’m really worried about Scott panicking about me. Would you mind if I called him to let him know I’m okay? It will only take a minute.”
She spun around and squeezed my hand so tightly I thought my bones might crush into dust. “No! You are not calling anyone. We are going to have fun, just the two of us.”
“What about your parents? Do you live with them?”
“They are away right now.” She was breathing erratically, her eyes wide open without blinking. “Why can’t you just relax and enjoy this? We’re going to have fun.”
Um… because I was being kept there against my will?
That was definitely a buzz kill.
“I don’t want to hurt you, bestie. But I will if you misbehave,” she added, throwing the threat at me to make it clear she wasn’t playing around.
“I understand. Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” She slowly stopped squeezing my hand enough for the blood to rush back into my fingers. “I just don’t want Scott and the boys worrying about me. Especially when we’re going to be having fun without them.”
“They can wait.”
She pulled me through the house and into her bedroom. All the purple walls were covered with posters of Two Dimension. But that wasn’t the weird part of it.
The weird part was that she had cut me out of other pictures and pasted me onto the old Two Dimension posters so it looked like I was always part of the band. My picture covered Luke so there were still only five
members.
Amber opened a cupboard and pulled out two cans of soda, handing me one. It was icy cold, she actually had a refrigerator in her room. It was only small, but still, a freaking fridge! I had to admire the coolness of that fact for just a moment.
“Sit down and we’ll get started on the first movie,” she said, jumping onto the bed and getting settled. On the wall at the end of her queen-sized bed was a massive television set. It almost covered the wall. She may have been crazy, but she had everything a teenager could dream about having in her bedroom.
I sat on the bed and she flicked on Titanic. Great, a four-hour movie, just what I wanted. While she started to get engrossed in the story, I looked around the room for a means of escape.
There were three doors in the room. One we came in through. Another was slightly ajar and I could see clothes on the other side, indicating that it was a closet. The third door could have been anything.
A bathroom, maybe? “I need to use the restroom, is that okay?”
“Sure, it’s just through there.” She pointed to the door I had been eyeing off. I slid off the bed and casually approached it. Inside was a small bathroom with a tiny window. Nothing special and no other doorway to take me anywhere else. No wonder Amber had been so okay with me using the restroom.
I returned and continued trying to formulate a plan. There was a window at the side of the room but we were on the second level of the house. Climbing down would be possible, but I didn’t really feel like breaking my neck in the process of escaping.
While pretending to watch the movie, a million plans formed in my mind. Most of them were shot down instantly as impossible. The best way out of the situation was to convince Amber to let me go. Plan B was to grab her car keys and steal her car.
Sitting there passively wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I was too impatient to watch the entire movie before I made a move. “This is a really nice house you have here.”
“Thanks.” She was barely paying attention to me as she watched Rose and Jack flirt on screen.
Nobody was going to be able to find me in her house. Scott, Cole, and anyone else wouldn’t have a clue where I was or where to start looking. A hero wasn’t going to rush in and save me. I would have to be my own hero.
I needed to find a reason to get downstairs. On the ground level I would have more of a chance of escape. As it was, I was trapped. If Amber wasn’t so organized, it would have been easier. She must have planned everything, truly thought I’d be happy to hang out with her against my will.
Titanic was one of my favorite movies but I couldn’t pay it any attention while my stomach churned with worry. I’d seen the anger rise in the girl so quickly before, her calm façade now wasn’t fooling me. If she had to hurt me, she would.
And she wouldn’t hesitate.
Which made getting out of there even more important. “I’m really hungry. Do you have any food?” I asked. The kitchen was downstairs. It was worth a shot.
That caught her attention. “I have your favorite, barbeque chips.” She hurried to the cupboard where a stash of snacks were thrown in haphazardly. The girl had thought of everything.
Which meant I had to think outside the box. “I do love chips. But, you know what I really feel like? Pancakes. I have the biggest craving for them. Do you think we could make some?” She didn’t have an entire stovetop and ingredients in her cupboard, I was pretty sure about that.
“I guess we could. Is that what you really feel like?” I nodded eagerly. She paused the movie. “Okay, that might be fun.”
I had to keep a cap on my excitement. There was still plenty that could go wrong and I was still a long way off being free. But it was a start.
Amber led me down the stairs, constantly checking over her shoulder to make sure I was still there. I could have pushed her down the stairs, but I didn’t want to hurt her. I was scared, but I wasn’t the kind of person who could harm another like that. I wasn’t like her.
“I don’t think we have any maple syrup,” she continued, prattling on about anything and everything. “But lemon and sugar are really nice on pancakes. Bananas are too.”
“That sounds good.”
We were on the ground floor and I could see the street through the front windows of the house. If I made it outside, I would have to run faster than Amber. Would I be able to knock on one of the other houses and beg for help? What about if nobody was home? It would give her time to catch up with me.
I needed the car.
Amber had thrown the keys on a small table by the door to the garage when we came inside. I could see them from the kitchen. If I could grab them and get to the car, I might be able to steal it and get away.
“Grab the milk from the fridge,” Amber instructed as she put together the ingredients for the pancakes. If I waited too long, I was going to miss my opportunity. If I tried and failed, she would make sure I didn’t get another one.
It all rested on now.
I needed to do it.
I lunged for the keys.
Chapter Eight
It took only a few seconds for Amber to work out what I was doing. “Stop it!” she yelled as she crossed the kitchen like a gazelle.
Nothing could stop me now, this was my only shot.
I reached the table and snatched up the keys, immediately running for the garage door and flinging it open. So many obstacles slowed me down but I couldn’t let anything stop me.
Just as I opened the driver’s side car door, Amber threw her arms around my waist, pulling me back against her. I kicked out, my foot colliding with something but I wasn’t sure what. I struggled with her, thrashing around until her grip couldn’t stay on me any longer. With one big push backwards, I made her stumble against the wall.
It was the break I needed. I threw myself into the car and slammed the door closed – locking it. I fumbled with the keys, dropping them once and having to pick them up frantically with shaking hands.
Amber started pounding on the window, making the whole car shake from the repeated impacts. Her voice was muffled but her threats were clear. If I didn’t open the door and come out, she would make me.
Our sizes were matched, I didn’t want to take her on in a fight. I’d almost lost at the car door and I couldn’t let myself get in that situation again.
The problem was I had nowhere to go. I was in the car but the garage door was closed. I was trapped with no escape route.
But the door had opened automatically when we arrived. Amber didn’t get out and open it before we drove in, the door moved by itself. Which meant I might still have a chance. I felt the keychain and looked at everything dangling from it.
Dallas’s house had an automatic garage door. She had a remote control on her keyring that she only had to press when she was near home and it would open for her. I hoped Amber’s was the same.
“Unlock the door or I will smash it open!”
There was a round black piece of plastic with a button on it attached to the keyring. I took a shot and pressed it, praying with everything I had that it would work.
I held my breath.
Amber continued to scream.
The door didn’t move.
I pressed it again, and again, hitting it a few times to shock it into working. There was no other way out and I was starting to lose hope.
“You shouldn’t do this, Melrose! I am totally going to make sure you regret this! We’re missing the movie!”
The door finally rumbled.
I didn’t want to look behind me in case it wasn’t the door and I had just been hopeful. I summoned enough courage to peek, at the same time Amber did. She started banging harder, screaming louder. The door was on its way up.
She rushed toward it, grasping for the edge to stop its ascent. I thrust the keys into the ignition and hurried to turn them. I had to get out before she won the tug-of-war with the door. She was only getting angrier which didn’t bode well for my wellbeing if I had to stay.
I threw the
car into reverse and slammed my foot on the accelerator. The car squealed as it headed for the door. It wasn’t entirely up yet and Amber was pulling on it to get it down again. It was high enough for the car to get out – with any luck.
My eyes squeezed shut as the car reversed and slid through the doorway. It only just made it but I wasn’t that concerned with damaging the car. I reversed blindly down the driveway until I hit the street.
Amber gave up on the door and ran after me, punching the car’s bonnet with both fists. Her eyes were blazing with fire, doused with anger until she was an inferno. I’d never seen someone that worked up before.
I skidded onto the street and straightened up. Putting the car into first gear, I floored it down the road. Amber ran after me but stopped at the end of the block, admitting defeat.
Tears stung at my eyes but I wasn’t going to let them fall yet. I wasn’t out of danger and I couldn’t go to pieces just yet. Later, when I was safe, then they could fall down my cheeks.
I didn’t have my phone and I didn’t know any phone numbers off by heart. There was nobody I could call to come and help me. If I called the police, the media would find out what happened. I wasn’t in a fit state to deal with that whole thing yet.
I drove and drove without paying attention to where I was or where I was going. All I wanted to do was put some distance between me and Amber. She had taken me too easily, I should never have got into the car in the first place. I had nobody to blame except myself.
When I was completely lost and had been driving for a solid twenty minutes, I pulled over. I was still in a residential area with no city in sight.
I looked around the car, hoping to find an old-fashion street directory or something. At first my glance glazed over the in-built GPS. I went back to it on my second look.
It was a gift from above.
I typed in the details for the hotel where we were staying and the calm female voice started to tell me how to get there. I breathed a sigh of relief, allowing myself a moment to reassure myself that I was going to be okay.
For almost forty minutes, I followed the directions until I pulled up outside a hotel that looked very familiar. I left the car in the driveway and ran inside.
Star Crossed Collection Page 17