My Everything - Seth & Amber (13 page)

“First, the most important thing to remember
when someone is trying to overpower you is to remain calm. Now,
that does not mean to be quiet. In fact, you should make as much
noise as possible to get attention. And I would advise that you not
yell ‘help.’ Sadly people are desensitized to calls for help. I
suggest you yell ‘fire’ or something that would get equal
attention.

“Secondly, always be aware of your
surroundings. Watch who is walking around you when you are headed
to your car. Many times when a woman feels she is being followed,
she tries to avoid the situation by rushing to her car. The problem
with that is, more often than not, the car is parked in a secluded
area. Do not park in secluded areas and if you feel you are being
followed, get to the nearest group of people as quickly as you
can.

“Also, make sure to
always
lock your
doors.”

Well, he was definitely looking at her
now
.

After a moment he continued scanning the
room, “Trust your instincts. If you feel like something is wrong,
it probably is.”

That would have been useful information to
have had a week ago. Amber had felt something was off as soon as
she had walked into Bella but she had not paid attention to it.

“Show anger, not fear. Attackers are usually
looking for an easy victim. A furious reaction may stop an attack.
Make sure to carry bags close to your body and always appear
confident. 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.”

Amber was entranced by the deep sound of
Seth’s voice. She was paying attention to what he was saying, but
found herself getting lulled by its baritone quality. She suddenly
realized that this was the most she had ever heard him speak. Even
the night in the hotel room, he had spoken in short sentences - and
when things had gotten
heated
, then short commands. She
liked hearing more than five words at a time from him. It was oddly
soothing.

“And remember, attacks happen in an instant.
There are no absolutes in them. Basically, there is no right and
wrong way to handle a dangerous situation. You need to stay
flexible, assess the individual circumstances, and act accordingly.
I am only here to give you some tools to make you better equipped
to handle yourself in
any
situation.”

Amber looked down the row at the ladies that
were gathered for the class. At one end there were a couple of
older women that looked like they had heard this all before. Beside
her stood a young girl. She was probably in her early twenties, and
she looked terrified. In the middle, there were two ladies in their
mid-to-late twenties that looked to be completely twitterpated with
one Mr. Seth Sloan.

All Amber could think was, 'Join the club,
ladies. Join the club.'

“I am going to show you three moves that can
help you escape an attack, even if your attacker is bigger and
stronger than you – which, nine times out of ten, they will be.
Your best weapons are the edge of your hand, your elbow, and your
heel.

“You need to aim for the parts of the body
where you can do the most damage. For example: the eyes, nose,
throat, groin and knees. It doesn’t matter how big and strong a man
is, these areas are his weakest points.”

Seth went on to explain and demonstrate
several defensive moves. He then said that each participant would
be practicing these moves on him. He would be the attacker and he
would walk the ladies through each technique.

He asked if there were any questions. Amber
thought that, although this may be her only opportunity, it
probably wasn’t the most appropriate time to raise her hand and ask
how he felt about her, and about them. She sat silently, as did the
other women.

Amber watched as he called each woman up, one
by one. She did notice that he started at the opposite side of the
row, leaving her for last. She had no idea what the significance of
that was, if any at all. Still, she noticed.

The first four women went through the paces
with no problems. The older ladies at the end were going through
all the motions but did not seem all that impressed with Seth or
this little tutorial.

The two brunettes in the middle
were
impressed, and their interest in him was fairly obvious. One
giggled like a schoolgirl every time he gave her an instruction and
the other one
literally
had to wipe drool off of her
mouth…twice.

Seth nodded at the petite blonde who was
standing next to Amber, indicating that it was her turn to go up.
Amber looked over to see that the young girl was shaking like a
leaf. She also seemed like she might be hyperventilating just a
little. If a 'little' hyperventilating was even possible.

Amber looked back at Seth and saw that he was
just waiting, not rushing the scared girl. He stood, hands clasped
behind his back, face void of emotion. Betty stepped away from the
wall and started to say something but Seth held up his hand causing
her to stop in her tracks. Everyone just…waited.

After what seemed like a half an hour but was
probably two or three minutes at most, the girl beside Amber took a
deep breath and walked forward on what looked to be shaky legs.
When she came to stand in front of Seth, he leaned down and said
something to her. Amber strained to hear what it was, but she
couldn’t.

The girl nodded at him and, with a look of
frightened determination, began going through the all the moves
that they had been taught. She noticed that the girl froze the
second Seth’s arms came around her, but he didn’t release her,
didn’t back down just kept talking to her in low tones. It
frustrated Amber that she couldn’t make out what he was saying.

By the end of the demonstration the girl
didn’t quite look confident, per se, but did look very proud of
herself. She walked back towards her place beside Amber with a
small smile on her face.

Amber looked up at Seth and her heart filled
with…love. Wait! She realized right there that she was starting to
fall just a little bit in love with him. Oh, no. Not good. Lust she
could handle. Attraction was her middle name. But love? Love
was…scary.

--- ~ ---

Seth’s pulse raced as he stood waiting. Amber
was next. He hadn’t believed it when he had walked out and seen her
standing in the small rec room. She had looked just as surprised as
him.

Betty had explained to him that this class
was for residents of the shelter. He knew Amber lived next door to
Jamie, so it made him wonder why she was here. Maybe she had lived
there in the past. Seth had to admit to himself that he didn’t
really know anything about her past. He barely knew anything about
her present. But oddly enough, he felt as though he knew her.

Amber licked her lips as she walked towards
him. Today she wore blue jeans, tennis shoes and a large gray
sweatshirt that hung off one shoulder. It reminded him of a movie
from his childhood, Flashdance. He had had a serious crush on
Jennifer Beals, the star of that movie, and Amber put her to
shame.

Amber’s hair was pulled back in a ponytail
and her face looked clean and fresh. With no make-up on, she looked
young and almost vulnerable. It made his protective instincts
-which were already in overdrive when it came to Amber – kick into
an even higher gear. He wasn’t able to control his internal
impulses with her.

“Seth?” Amber said looking a tad confused as
to why he was just standing there, not doing anything.

Get it together, Sloan, he told himself.

“Do you have any questions?” he asked.

Her mouth opened like she was about to say
something but then, just as fast, she shut it again. She pursed her
lips slightly and shook her head no. He noticed her ponytail
swishing back and forth and his hands itched to touch it. He wanted
to reach out, wrap his fingers around and grab it, holding the
silky locks tightly in his fist, then firmly tug her head so it
tilted up and he could crush his mouth to hers.

He still hadn’t moved. They just stared at
each other. He heard Betty clear her throat and it pulled him out
of his lust paralysis.

“Ready?” he asked. His voice had a gravelly
tone to it.

Amber nodded her head.

He moved behind her, and the second he
wrapped his arms around her he, knew it was a mistake. She felt
right, there in his embrace. Too right. He never wanted to let her
go, in fact.

He closed his eyes for just a moment and let
himself absorb her nearness. Her backside tucked snugly against his
growing erection. The feeling of her delicate shoulders as they
pressed against his chest caused a warmth to spread through him.
She felt so small, so tiny and fragile in his arms. Of course, he
thought wryly, when she opens her mouth it becomes clear that she
is anything
but
fragile. Still, he liked the feeling of
protecting her within the strong circle of his arms.

He felt her body shift slightly and, before
he had a chance to move out of the way, her heel came down hard on
his shin. It hurt. Bad.

He heard himself groan and her head spun
around, eyes wide with worry. “Did I hurt you?”

“I’m fine.” He seriously needed to regain
focus so that no other body parts became unintended victims to his
distraction.

“Did I do it right?” she asked looking a
little confused.

“Yes,” he answered, pushing down the
pain.

She had done everything right. He was the
jackass that didn’t move out of the way. He couldn’t believe that
she had caused him to completely forget where they were and what
they were doing - especially since he had specifically given
himself time to prepare for having her in his arms by making sure
she was the last demonstration.

Shit. He had to get himself under control,
quick.

As they went through the final moves, he was
able to keep his head in the game and, luckily, came through
without any further injuries. As she walked back to stand with the
other class participants he took a moment to watch her. Amber was
strong. Physically and mentally. Tougher than her beauty might lead
you to believe.

She was also a fast learner, agile and
quick.

He was drawn to her. No matter how many times
he had tried to keep her from his thoughts over the years, they
always seemed to drift back to her. He hadn’t known her name then,
but he knew her face, her body, her voice - the night they shared
together would burst in his mind like a flash flood of water
breaking free from a dam. His feelings were that strong before he
had known anything about her. Even her name.

“Okay, ladies, thank you so much for coming
today. Let’s give our instructor a nice round of applause.”

The women all clapped.

Seth was so ready for this class to be over.
He needed to figure out what to do about Amber. He wasn’t looking
for a serious relationship. He wasn’t even capable of one. And she
was so intertwined with his life that he really didn’t think a
casual affair was plausible. But ignoring her and the attraction he
felt for her didn’t seem to be working either.

“So, you are all excused. If you have any
questions for Mr. Sloan, he will stay and answer them for you.”

He will? Seth did not know that a Q and A was
part of the class. Damn.

Betty stood beside him as a couple of the
women came forward to speak to him. He noticed out of his
peripheral vision that Amber slipped out the side door. Maybe that
was for the best. He should probably figure out all the shit that
was clouding his judgment and get his mind right before he saw her
again.

Maybe then, he would know how to handle this
situation.

Amber could still feel Seth’s breath on her
bare neck as she walked quickly down the gray hall that led back to
the reception area. She reached up and touched her neck as she
shivered at the memory. When Seth had first put his arms around her
and she felt the heavy heat of his exhale on her skin, a tingle so
intense she had thought her legs might buckle beneath her had run
through her entire body. It had taken her a moment to remember why
he was holding her and what she was supposed to be doing.

When she finally had remembered what her move
was, she must have timed it wrong, because she had ended up making
contact.

She didn’t believe that he was really fine
like he had claimed. He looked like she had hurt him. The rest of
the demo was, luckily, incident free (Hey, she only had one thing
to feel guilty for! She could consider that a win!).

Now, though, she could not shake the feeling
of being held by him. His arms were so strong. His biceps pressed
solidly against her as they wrapped her up, and she loved looking
down and seeing the difference in their sizes. She could have
stayed in his arms forever and been perfectly happy.

That, and the small (huge!) realization that
she was developing some pretty serious (love!) feelings for him,
had completely knocked her world off its axis. She had originally
planned to go straight to bed when she got home. Instead, it was
looking like a 'glass of wine and hot bath' kind of night.

Just as she was reaching the double doors,
her phone buzzed. She ignored it. She would call whoever it was
back later. After her wine. After her bath.

She stepped into the reception room and it
immediately rang again. Her shoulders slumped. She answered it.

“Hi Mom,” Amber said. She hoped this
conversation would go as well as the last one had.

“Hi, Babygirl,” her mom’s speech was slurred
and she was talking
very
loud.

Yep, she was definitely drunk or high or
both. Perfect. Why did Amber ever let herself hope? One day she
would learn her lesson.