Walk With Me

57. Not Scared

"So, what's the plan for the rest of this fine Friday night?" I ask Amber when we're back inside. "Make a snack and watch a movie? Make out on the couch?"

She hums, tapping a contemplative finger to her chin a few times before biting down on her lip and letting her eyes travel me up and down.

"Mmhmm. Sure. And hell yes," is her brilliant response as she presses her lips to mine and we walk into the living room. Well, more like stumble since we're still attached at the mouth.

I drop down on the couch and pull her onto my lap. She laughs at the sudden movement, squealing a little when I give her thigh a squeeze but her arms are quickly around my neck, legs straddled to each side of mine. Looks like we're going straight to the making out and I'm really fucking good with that. There's not a snack in existence that tastes as good as she does, no movie ever made that evokes the same feeling as her body pressed into mine, no musical score that sounds as good as that breathy sigh on her lips any time I touch her.

Her tongue slides against mine and–

Knock knock knock.

You've got to be kidding me.

I pull my lips away from her and my eyes hit the front door. "Who the hell is that?"

"I have no idea." Amber's shoulders slump and her head turns to follow my line of vision, a touch of worry in her eyes when they return to mine.

Another knock has me lifting her off my lap and setting her down on the couch as I come to my feet. "Stay right there."

As my hand turns the knob, a sick feeling enters my stomach and I'm not surprised at all to see Vince standing on the porch when I open the door.

He's looking down at the welcome mat and when his head lifts up, there's a disturbing smile on his face. One look at me though and his eyes go wide with surprise, mouth dropping open to say something but then he stops, his brows furrowing as he scowls at me. It seems he wasn't expecting me to be here and, I'm not gonna lie, his shocked disappointment is pretty satisfying.

We're locked up in a pretty intense stare down when I feel Amber arrive at my side.

"Vince?" Her voice shares the same worry that was in her eyes a minute ago and my senses kick into overdrive. This is the last thing she needs.

I'm still trying to process the fact that he's here and my head is split down a precarious road. One side is completely focused on protecting Amber's well-being by tapping into my usual composure and taking care of this in the calmest way possible. But the other side is outright burning with a violent desire to eliminate the threat of her peace that just came knocking on the door at ten o'clock at night.

Before I get a chance to react on either emotion and tell her I've got this handled, Vince is taking a step inside the house. "Amber, I need to talk to you," he says, attempting to push past me.

Yeah, that's not gonna fucking happen.

His next attempt at stepping forward is stopped short by my hand smacking against his chest. "Back the fuck up, Vince. You're not coming inside."

He does as I say, mostly because I'm not giving him a choice, and before I know it, we're standing on the porch. My eyes flit around for Amber's location, knowing she followed us out here and feeling her near me but my head is so foggy with eliminating the threat, I can't make sense of exactly where she landed. I really don't want her anywhere near this asshole but I'm not about to tell her to go inside because that doesn't sit right with me. This is her house.

At the very least, I'm here with her this time. And when she falls in beside me, bringing her hand to my back to let me know where she is, I feel immediately more at ease.