The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window (37 page)

“
Amber! What
the hell?” Johnny gasped. I looked up he was standing there in just
a towel
, his body wet from getting out of
the shower. I pushed myself away from the door and threw myself at
him, hugging him tightly, ignoring the water dripping on me from
his hair as I sobbed against his neck. “What’s wrong? Amber, for
goodness sake! What’s happened?” he asked desperately as he rubbed
his hands up my back trying to soothe me.

“
I need to go
home. I need to go, right now!” I cried. My legs were barely
holding me up; he was supporting most of my weight. I was probably
hurting him because of how tightly I was clutching at him, but he
didn’t complain.

“
What’s
wrong?” he asked
, pulling back to look at
me.

“
Johnny
, please?” I choked
out.

He nodded and
pulled me over to the bed making me sit down. “I need to get
dressed
,” he said, blushing. I nodded and
closed my eyes, trying to picture Liam, I needed to calm down, I
couldn’t go into meltdown here. I could hear him moving around,
getting dressed. Less than a minute later he took my hand. “I’m
ready. Let’s go,” he stated, pulling me up gently. I clung to his
hand tightly as he led me across the room to his door; he stopped
with his hand on the handle. “You promise you’ll tell me what this
is about later?” he asked, looking at me pleadingly. I nodded. I’d
agree to anything he asked for if he would just get me the hell out
of here. He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close to his side
as he opened the door, leading us quickly down the stairs. I
stiffened as his mother walked out of the lounge. “Shit! What are
you doing home?” he asked, shocked.

She
smiled a little sadly. “Matt’s not well. He was
sick last night and he’s been grizzly all day, so we just came home
early,” she explained, holding her arms open for him. He stepped
away from me and I felt my breath catch in my throat at being on my
own. He hugged her quickly. “Missed you,” she cooed, patting his
back.

He smiled and
kissed her cheek. “You too. Look, Mom, I need to take Amber home,
her brother needs her,” he lied, moving back to me
quickly.

She smiled
sadly. “Are you sure you can’t stay for dinner, Amber? Stephen
would love to spend some time with you.”

Spend some
time with m
e? Is she freaking kidding me?
I shook my head. “I can’t,” I whispered.

My father
walked around the corner and I shrank into Johnny’s
side
, pressing against him so hard that
it actually hurt. His arm tightened around me even though he didn’t
know why I was acting like this. He really was a great
stepbrother.

“
Hi
, Stephen,” Johnny greeted,
stiffly.

“
Hi, Johnny.
Getting cosy with my daughter?” Stephen asked, his voice hard
making me flinch.

“
I need to
go
,” I whispered desperately, digging my
fingers into his side.

“
I’ll see you
guys later
,” Johnny said, turning and
pushing me in front of him putting himself between me and my father
as we walked to the door. I practically ran to his car, watching
the front door the whole time in case he came after me. I knew he
wouldn’t though. He needed to keep up the act for his wife and
Johnny, but that didn’t stop the panic from rising in my
chest.

Johnny was
watching me worriedly as he sped do
wn the
streets. “Are you alright, Amber? You look really pale, you’re
shaking,” he said, taking my hand.

I
nodded
. “I want to go home,” I choked
out.

“
OK, shh I’ll
take you home.” He rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand as he
drove to my house. I squeezed my eyes shut. He really hadn’t
changed at all; the way he looked at me turned my stomach. Oh God,
I needed Liam!

After about
ten minutes of trying to
think of
anything other than my father, we pulled into my drive. I burst out
of the car and ran for the house, praying that Liam was still over.
I threw the door open and spotted him sitting on the sofa playing
PlayStation with Jake.

They both
glanced up as I came in
. Liam grinned at
me happily before his face fell. He jumped up from the sofa as I
ran to him. “What the hell?” he shouted angrily, glaring at Johnny
who came in behind me. I threw myself at him, sobbing. Jeez, I
needed him; he was the only thing that kept me sane when my world
started to fall apart. He wrapped me tightly in his arms, turning
me away from Johnny, his whole body tense and stressed.

“
What the
hell is going on?” Jake shouted
, stepping
towards Johnny, looking really angry.

“
I don’t
know
. I was getting changed then she just
freaked out and started crying. Jake, I didn’t do anything!” Johnny
cried sounding a little scared.

Jake grabbed
my arm
, pulling me away from Liam. “Has
he hurt you, Amber?” he asked fiercely, pointing at Johnny
accusingly.

I shook my
head
, trying to speak. They thought
Johnny had hurt me? “I went to his house. He wasn’t supposed to be
there,” I sobbed, my legs gave out from under me. Liam grabbed my
waist before I slumped to the floor and picked me up quickly, he
sat down, pulling me onto his lap, rubbing my hair away from my
face and kissing my cheek.

“
Shh it’s
alright, Angel. Everything’s OK,” he cooed.

“
Who wasn’t
supposed to be there? Someone needs to tell me what the hell
happened
, RIGHT NOW!” Jake shouted
getting angrier and angrier.

“
Dad
,” I croaked.

Jakes eyes
went wide his hands clenched into fists, his jaw clamped tight. I
felt Li
am’s arms get tighter around me.
“You saw him?” Jake asked, his voice sounding truly menacing. I
nodded and watched him glare at Johnny again as if this was somehow
is fault. “You took her to your house and let that asshole near
her?” Jake growled, making Johnny flinch.

“
I didn’t
know he was there!
He wasn’t supposed to
be there. They came home early while I was in the shower,” he
protested, holding his hands up innocently as Jake looked like he
wanted to murder him there and then. If looks could kill Johnny
would be dead right now.

“
What did he
do
, Angel?” Liam whispered, pulling my
face around to look at him. I shook my head. Could I tell them? If
they found out I had no doubt that they would be going round there
in the very, very near future, and then they’d get in trouble.
“Tell me,” Liam ordered.

I hugged him
tight
ly, I couldn’t lie to him. “He….he
grabbed my arm. He said I… I looked beautiful, just like my mom at
my age, and that I was a f…fucking p…peach,” I whispered, barely
able to get the words out, my voice hitching and catching through
my sobs. Liam’s arms tightened around me, so tight that it was
actually starting to hurt my ribs. “Liam, you’re hurting me,” I
whined, gripping my hands into his hair. His arms loosed instantly
but his whole body was so tense that he was probably giving himself
an ulcer.

Jake
g
rabbed his keys off of the side. “I’m
going. You coming, Liam?” Jake asked, heading for the door. Oh hell
no! I couldn’t let them get in trouble!

Liam lifted
me off of
his lap and sat me on the sofa.
“Watch her,” he said to Johnny sternly, as he stood up to
leave.

“
No!” I
screamed, grabbing Liam’s hand. “Jake, no!” I begged.

“
I won’t let
him hurt you again
,” Jake
growled.

“
He won’t. He
won’t come near me. It was my fault; I shouldn’t have gone to
Johnny’s. I shouldn’t have taken the risk. Please, please don’t. I
can’t see you get in trouble. I need you. I need both of you.
Please don’t leave me on my own,” I begged. I squeezed Liam’s hand
for emphasis. “Please,” I begged pulling him closer to me
again.

He sighed and
looked at Jake. “She’s right, Jake. We can’t go without him doing
anything first. He’ll just get away with everything, and we’ll be
the ones in trouble,” Liam reasoned.

I relaxed.
Liam was seeing sense; he always thought things through, not like
Jake. “What do you mean by,
hurt her again
?” Johnny asked
quietly.

All three of
us looked at him. Jake spoke first. “Nothing. I think you should
go, Johnny.” He nodded at the door, signalling for him to
leave.

Johnny shook
his head
. “No. Amber, you promised you’d
tell me what this was about,” he stated, looking at me
pleadingly.

He’s
right
, I did say that. Jake looked at me,
letting me make the decision. “I did say that,” I confirmed,
nodding and closing my eyes, pressing myself to Liam again. Jeez,
this was going to be so damn hard!

~ Liam ~

I pulled her back onto my lap, wanting her close to
me. My heart still hadn’t returned to normal from seeing her
sobbing like that. I was so angry that my jaw was aching where I
was clenching my teeth together so tightly, trying to stay in
control. I wanted to go around there and beat him until there was
nothing left of him, but she was right, we’d be the ones getting in
trouble then and she didn’t need any more stress right now.

Jake motioned
for Johnny to sit on the couch opposite
us, and he sat down next to him. Both of them looked
stressed. Amber curled herself up into a ball on my lap, pulling
her knees up and tucking her face into the side of my neck. I
rocked her gently as I listened to Jake telling Johnny about the
abuse when they were kids, how their father had tried to attack
Amber, and how we’d kicked him out three years ago. He left out the
sexual abuse that no one really knew very much about because she
refused to talk about it. The whole time Johnny just sat there,
playing with his hands. Why didn’t he look shocked at all of this?
If someone sat there and told me that their father had abused them
for years, I think I’d at least be a little shocked, wouldn’t
I?

After about
ten minutes I glanced down at Amber t
o
see she was asleep in my arms. She looked so sad and vulnerable;
her face was still red from crying. I’d never let anything hurt her
again. I waved to Jake to get his attention. “I’m going to put her
to bed,” I whispered, standing up and trying to keep her still as I
carried her to her room, laying her on her bed. She whimpered and
snuggled closer to me, so I laid down with her for a couple of
minutes until she was back in a deep sleep. I kissed her forehead
and went back to the lounge

J
ohnny had his head in his hands.
Jake looked really angry again. “What’s wrong?” I asked, looking
between the two of them. Jake looked at me, he looked really
stressed and worried. I didn’t see Jake like this very often, he
was always so strong and it actually made me feel a little sick to
see him like that now.

“
He’s doing
it again. He’s hit Johnny and his mom a few times,” Jake growled,
looking disgusted. Damn it! I told Jake we should have called the
police instead of just kicking him out, but he insisted he didn’t
want Amber to go through that. And now he was doing it to someone
else!

“
My mom was
talking about leaving him last year. Then we moved here instead.
She said it was a fresh start and that we should all start over,
but it hasn’t helped,” Johnny said sadly. I knelt down next to him
and put my hand on his shoulder. I didn’t really know him that
well, he was more Angel’s friend than mine, but I knew he was a
good kid.

“
Johnny, does
your mom still want to leave him?” I asked, looking at Jake, who
looked like he was ready to explode any minute. I’d have to keep a
close eye on him. If the time came then I’d be there at his side,
but we couldn’t go rushing into anything, it would need to look
like self-defence.

Johnny
shrugged
. “I haven’t spoken to her about
it since we moved here, so I don’t know. I know that she’s scared
for Matt. He hasn’t hit him yet, but he’s only a year old,” he
replied, his voice breaking.

I squeezed
his shoulder supportively. That asshole was a real sick piece of
work. Jake sat down next to him and patted his back awkwardly. As
guys, we weren’t really too good at support. Angel would be perfect
for this; she was so damn loving and kind.

“
Johnny, you
need to tell
your mom that he’s done this
before. It could be the push that she needs to leave him before he
does anything to Matt,” Jake said kindly.

Johnny
nodded,
standing up. “I’ll go home and
speak to her when I can.”

“
Johnny,
if
you ever need help you call me. Day or
night, understand? And if you need a place to stay for a few days,
your mom and brother too, then you can stay here,” Jake said
fiercely. He meant it, Jake was a great guy and he would never let
anyone hurt his family or friends, I guess technically Johnny was
his family too.