My Everything - Seth & Amber (2 page)

“You know what?” her mother screamed through
the phone before bursting into tears, “Aaron would have helped me!
He would have never said no to his mother! He loved me! Why do you
have to be such a bitch?”

“Goodbye, Mom.” Amber’s hands shook as she
set her phone on her nightstand.

She blinked several times from the tears that
were stinging her eyes. She glanced over at the framed photo that
sat beside her alarm clock. It held a picture of her and Aaron
taken right before his last tour in Afghanistan. They stood in
front of a chain link fence, both squinting from the brightly
shining sun. Aaron’s arm was draped loosely around her shoulders as
she hugged his waist. Huge smiles spread across their faces as they
looked up at whoever they had asked to take the picture.

God, she missed her brother so much. It had
been eight years since he was killed in the line of duty. She had
thought that it would get easier with time. She had known she would
never forget her brother or stop being sad. But, man. She really
hadn’t imagined that, this many years later, she would still feel
the same level of stabbing pain in her chest which she had felt
when she had learned that he had been killed, every single time she
thought about him.

She knew she didn’t have time to deal with it
now, though. She picked up her phone once again.

After two rings, a woman’s voice came on the
line. “Horizons, this is Sherry.”

“Hi, Sherry, this is Amber Webb. My mother,
Susan Webb, is a patient at Horizons. I just received a concerning
phone call from her, leading me to believe she is no longer under
your care. Can you tell me when she left there and why I wasn’t
contacted?”

Amber could hear the clicking sounds of a
keyboard before Sherry’s voice came back on the line, “It looks
like she voluntarily checked-in, which means she can check-out at
any time. Under those circumstances we are not required to notify
anyone of a patient’s status.”

“Can you just tell me when she left?” Amber
had no idea if her mom was on a two day or a two week bender, at
least this would narrow it down.

“I’m sorry, I can’t. It’s against
policy.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Amber knew, logically, that it wasn’t
Sherry’s fault that she couldn’t give her the information she
needed. Sherry was just doing her job. But that didn’t change the
fact that right now, Amber didn’t like Sherry very much. Nope, not
at all.

--- ~ ---

“Holy shit! Is that your bike?” Cameron asked
loudly, still looking through the window as Seth walked into the
small office.

“Yep.” Seth watched his oldest friend's face
light up as he held the blinds open, staring outside with a look of
wonder on his face.

“She is a beauty. Can I take her out?”
Cameron asked, dropping the blinds and turning towards him.

“No,” Seth immediately replied.

Cameron shook his head, a slow smile
spreading across his face, “Damn, you look good. You always were a
pretty S.O.B. Looks like you just got better with age. Like a fine
wine, my man. What do you have, a twelve pack under there?” Cameron
slapped at Seth’s abs, then, patting his own gut, he added with a
wink, “I may have lost my girlish figure, but the ladies still love
them some Cam.”

“Good to know.” Seth felt a smile tug at his
lips.

He and Cameron had always been polar
opposites, which was probably the reason they had gravitated toward
each other in grade school. Together, they had ruled the school.
Hell, as teenagers they had pretty much dominated the entire town -
maybe even the county.

Cameron stepped up and pulled Seth into a
hug, “Still a man of few words. Glad to see some things never
change. I missed you, man.”

“You too,” Seth said as he patted his friend
on the back.

Cameron moved to sit behind his small desk,
pushing his chair back to make room for his significant gut. “So,
what are your plans now that Uncle Sam no longer wants your damaged
ass?”

Seth sighed as he took a seat in one of the
two folding chairs that sat opposite the desk. “I’m headed to
Jason’s.”

Katie, his brother Jason’s wife, wanted to
throw him a welcome home party. He had always liked Katie and was
glad his little brother had finally ended up with her, so he had
agreed to it. Seth wasn’t a big fan of crowds and didn’t
particularly enjoy parties, but he figured, what the hell - get all
the awkward conversations out of the way in one fell swoop.

He knew people would be interested in the
fact that he was back in town. Since he had left for basic training
fifteen years ago, he hadn’t spent more than a couple of days at a
time back in Harper’s Crossing, and he had only done that a handful
of times. But now, he was home.

So much had changed over the time he had been
away. He never expected to be back here. But it seemed that life
tended to throw him curve balls.

When he had left, his brothers were young.
Riley was sixteen, Jason was fourteen, Alex was twelve and Bobby
was ten. Now Bobby, Riley and Jason were all married and Alex was
engaged. Hell, Riley even had a baby on the way. In his absence,
his dad Bob had suffered two heart attacks and had retired, handing
the reins of Sloan Construction over to Seth's little brother
Jason.

That wasn't all that had changed. Seth had
changed. Even if he had come back to find Harper's Crossing exactly
the same as it had been when he left, he didn't know if he would
have been able to experience his quaint, small hometown in the same
pure way as he had when he'd left.

Seth knew it was a cliché to say that 'war
changes a man' – but, damn it, clichés got to be clichés because
they were true. Seth had come back from overseas completely fucked
up, and he didn't even know what the full extent of the damage
might be. Oh, not just his shoulder. That was what had resulted in
his discharge, but it was a mere flesh wound compared to the real
scars he carried around. Those were mental – and spiritual.

He thought that if he were only dealing with
the PTSD, he could handle that. You could see a shrink for that.
There was a list of symptoms for PTSD. They could diagnose you.
They could treat you.

How do you treat someone who simply has a
blackness at the core of their soul because they've seen too much –
and, not only seen, but
done
too much - horrific shit?
There's no name for that. It's not a disease. You're just
broken.

“I didn’t mean what were your plans today,
dumb ass. I meant long term,” Cameron clarified.

“After the first of the year Fisher wants me
to come in and talk to him.” A shooting pain stabbed Seth’s
shoulder. He rolled it to try to get some relief. He still had some
discomfort from the entry site but it was better than it had
been.

Seth never thought in a million years that he
would be in this position - at loose ends, no job. He had taken for
granted the fact that he would always be a Marine. Apparently that
wasn't in the cards. After his last injury had caused nerve damage,
he had been offered the choice of medical discharge or
reassignment. Seth had been a member of the elite Marine Corp Force
Reconnaissance, or Force Recon. It was more than a job, it was who
he was. To him, reassignment was not an option. Seth knew that he
would never be able to handle having a desk job.

Carl Fisher, Harper's Crossing's Police
Chief, was a family friend who had known Seth all of his life. When
Carl had heard that Seth was coming home, he had immediately
contacted him about joining the force. Hell, Seth didn’t know if
becoming one of the boys in blue was something he wanted to do, but
he figured there was no harm in hearing Fisher out.

“Well, if you’re anything like you used to
be, I know you'll be bored as hell if you’re just hanging out until
then.” Cam smiled and clapped his hands together, “So I have a
proposal for you.”

“No I won’t sleep with you, even for a
million dollars,” Seth said flatly.

Cam’s eyes widened, “Dude, Demi Moore is so
hot in that movie! Remember when we bought tickets for the Sandlot
but snuck into Indecent Proposal instead?”

“I remember you almost got us caught and
kicked out because you kept talking to the screen.”

“Ah, those were good times.” Cam tilted his
head, smiling at the memory. “But I’m not offering you a million
dollars for one night. Don’t get me wrong, I would if I had it.
You’re way hotter than Demi,” Cam joked. “Look, seriously, I could
really use some help around here. We’re slammed, and hell, I know
that installing security systems is way below your pay grade...but
I could really use an extra hand. One that I trust.”

Seth was proud of his friend. Since Cam had
taken over Titan Security from his father, he had put his degree in
marketing to good use and had grown the business by over four
hundred percent in five years. Seth thought that, even though
installing security systems did not sound like the most exciting
job in the world, it would only be for a couple of months. Besides,
he could never really say no to Cam.

He smirked to himself. Since that was the
case, maybe it was a good thing Cam had decided to forgo the
(extremely) indecent proposition.

“Alright,” Seth agreed.

Cam raised his eyebrow, “That’s it. You don’t
want to know the hours, the pay?”

Seth shrugged and smiled a barely-perceptible
grin, “Since we already established that the million bucks is off
the table, I'm bound to walk away disappointed,” he joked dryly,
and then continued, “I’m sure we can work something out.”

“Sweet! Cam and Seth together again. It’s
going to be just like old times,” Cameron said excitedly.

Seth shook his head, grinning at his friend’s
enthusiasm. Just like old times. He seriously hoped not.

Amber sat in Jason and Katie’s front room and yawned for about the
fifth time in so many minutes. She couldn’t help it. It had been a
long day, starting with her dreaming about
him
, then the
phone call from her mom, and finally being late for work. She felt
like her entire day had been spent playing catch-up. She was
spent.

If this was any normal, run-of-the-mill
get-together, she would probably bow out early to go catch some
zzz’s. In fact, she probably would have just made her excuses
rather than showing up in the first place. Tonight was not,
however, just your average shindig. Tonight, her curiosity trumped
her exhaustion. The mysterious Seth Sloan was coming home.

She had known the Sloan family for almost a
decade now. She had briefly dated Jason back in the day. Nothing
serious, they had had zero chemistry. This non-event had happened
several years before he was reunited with the girl he had been in
love with for his entire life (and who was now his wife, not to
mention, was also now one of Amber's best friends), Katie. She and
Jason had remained friends after their failed dates and she had
gotten to know his brothers Bobby, then Alex, and most recently
Riley, pretty well.

Amber had heard a few stories of the
legendary Seth Sloan but she had yet to see a picture of him. From
all accounts, he didn’t say much, and had been pretty rebellious as
a teen. As an adult, she knew that he was part of a specialized,
cream of the crop unit in the Marines. Other than that, she hadn’t
heard a lot about him. Heck, none of his family had even seen him
in the last six years!

She felt another yawn creep up on her. Man,
she thought, maybe she should just go ahead and head home, Seth
Sloan reveal or no.

“Oooh! You look tired! Does this mean that
you and Brad hit it off last night?”

Amber looked up to see Katie’s Aunt Wendy
staring down at her hopefully. Amber loved Wendy, as much for her
insanely wild fashion sense as for her big heart.

“No, we did not,” Amber said wryly. “I think
I’m officially done being set up. I think we can consider Brad the
straw that broke the blind-date camel's back.” Amber did not
honestly think she could sit through another awful date, set up by
one of her friends or customers who swore that she would just
loooooove this one. She grimaced.

“Why? What happened?” Wendy sat down beside
her.

“Nothing horrible. Brad’s fine if you like
emotionally unavailable mama’s boys.”

“Oh, no! He seemed so nice when I took that
Karate lesson from him,” Wendy said, disappointed.

“He is nice,Wendy,” Amber tried to explain,
“he’s just not…”

“He’s just not Mystery Man,” Haley said,
sitting down to join them.

“Who’s Mystery Man?” Wendy’s expression
brightened at this new development.

“No one,” Amber stated firmly, glaring at
Haley. She was not about to go into her one night stand with
Katie’s Aunt. That was not going to happen.

Haley clasped her hands in front of her chest
dramatically and swooned, “He is the man that Amber judges every
other man against, and none of them even come close to stacking up.
Which is why none of her dates even have a chance.” Haley lifted
her glass of punch and took a drink. Amber wondered what was in the
punch, and thought that it just might not be Haley's first glass of
the evening.

“Thanks, Hales,” Amber said dryly. She
couldn’t believe her friend-slash-employee was blowing up the spot
on her like this.

“It’s true, Amber!” Haley insisted, “I’m only
saying this because I want what’s best for you and you need to face
the fact that Mystery Man is gone. I met Brad. He seemed nice. You
should give him another shot.”

“Who is Mystery Man?” Wendy asked again, a
little louder this time.

“Oh, are we talking about Mystery Man? I love
that story! It’s so romantic!” Katie sat down beside Haley on the
couch.

“We're not, actually,” Amber snapped, her
voice sounding harsher than she had intended.