Amber's P.O.V.-
It has been a year since she found out about Evan being her father. So much has happened in that time. Evan went through a period that he just couldn't handle the news. The night Cage told him, they both had ended up getting arrested. Cage's wife had come looking for him and she had found them pounding on each other. She couldn't get them to stop so she had called the cops on them.
Amber thought it was funny now, but she hadn't understood at the time how she could do that to them. But now she understood that she just didn't have a clue what else to do. If she would have left them to it, one of them would have ended up in the hospital.
Evan had come to see her the next morning to talk to her, and asked her to keep an eye on his shop. He told her he needed to get away. That's another thing she didn't understand. She thought at the time that he didn't want her. But after talking to the guys, they had explained that Evan needed time.
That he was feeling a lot of quilt, that he needed time to deal with it. Evan would be back for her. And they had been right. Evan had been gone for six months, but he was better after he came back. He had dealt with his feelings about her and with the fact that Trish had betrayed him.
When he had came back he offered her a partnership in his shop. She had been surprised but she turned him down. He wanted to do something for her, so he bought the building that was attachment to his and he turned it into an art gallery for her. The place is now full of local artist work.
Neither of them wanted a stuff, uptight place, that wouldn't get any business due to the fact it was connected to a tattoo shop. They wanted a place that welcomed any and all. Since Amber was still not good with people, so Cages wife is running the place for her. When they graduate in nine months Jenni is planning to take over for her mom. That had been the plan all along. Amber had offered the job to Jenni first, but her parents didn't want her to take it due to the fact they wanted her to have time to due all her studying she had to do for her classes.
When Cage's wife had offered to fill in for Jenni until she had graduated, Amber had been surprised and a little leery about the idea at first, but now Amber couldn't be more grateful. She had a place to hang her art plus she had an income so she no longer had to work at the diner.
She hadn't been back to the diner since the night Nick had to carry her out of there. The guys had refused to let her go back. She had argued with them that she needed a job, but they said she had one, taking care of Evan's shop.
She felt bad that he was paying her, but Ethan had explained to her that it was Evan's honor code to pay someone that did work for him.
Ethan... Things with Ethan are a little weird. He hadn't kissed her since the night she found out about Evan being her dad. He would hold her hand, take her on rides on his bike, make her sit on his lap, and even cuddle on the couch sometimes, but that is all they did. She didn't know what happened. She knew she was innocent in this area, so she had asked Nick, but he wasn't able to help her. He didn't know what was going on in Ethan's head. Apparently Ethan wasn't talking.
She was in the back yard setting up her easel when she heard a commotion behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw all four of her roommates coming out the back door, arguing again.
Sighing she went back to setting up her supplies. Whatever they were arguing about she would know soon enough. Since she moved in, they had decided that she was always the one with the deciding vote, be it the topping on the pizza they were ordering or where they wanted to go on spring break. If they couldn't all agree she had to make the choice. At first she thinks they just wanted to make her feel like she was part of them, but now it had become a habit.
She went about putting her supplies on the little table Nick had brought out for her earlier. Just as she finished all got quite behind her. She turned to see four pathetic looking faces. They had their best puppy dog looking faces aimed at her, well except Ethan, he just wore a smirk.
For some reason that smirk gave her funny feelings in her stomach. Feelings she didn't know what to do with. She blushed and turned away from that stark blue stare.
Now focusing on Micca, she calmed down a little. Micca always calmed her jumpy nerves, after he would give her a soft smile. She raised a brow at Lucca's pleading face, and turned to Nick. Nick was the most level headed one of the bunch. The one she knew she could get a straight and to the point answer from.
“Yes?” she asked and waited patiently.
Nick's P.O.V.-
Nick sighed, knowing he had to ask her. Knowing she was going to say no. Knowing it was Ethan's turn to stay home with her. Ethan didn't seem to mind to much these days, but Amber wasn't comfortable around Ethan when they were alone. They all knew it, but he had promised he would ask, like every Wednesday night, and he knew she was going to say no, like every Wednesday night for the last two years.
“Will you go with us to the pub?”
Amber blinked at him a couple times, then laughed softly. “No Nick, I have to work on my painting for class. I wont have much time this weekend and it's due Monday.” She smiled at me then turned back around. She started squeezing paint onto what looked like a plate with a bunch of little dips in it. There was a whole on one side, that he assumed was for her thumb.
He waved his hand at the others to come. All four made it back into the house.
Ethan spoke up first, “Go, she will be okay. I doubt she will even realize I'm the one that stayed home. She knows we never leave her completely alone. She will do her painting, clean up and go to bed.” Nick didn't wondered how Ethan knew Amber so well, when in the two years she had lived there, Ethan always knew where she was. Nick knew he watched Amber closely. Ethan always knew where Amber was at any given moment of the day. “Besides she never seeks any of us out. She will just assume one of us is here and go about her own business.”
We all nodded at Ethan. He was right, we had all watched Amber relax as she got used to us. But we still never touched her unless she touched us first or knew we were going to touch her, even after two years.
Lucca made the mistake of touching her shoulder once when she wasn't paying attention and it took Micca almost two hours to calm her down enough before she would let anyone get within five feet of her.
As Amber relaxed more around us, she got used to having at least one person in the house at all times with her.. The one time our schedules got mixed up and she came home to an empty house, she refused to go inside until Ethan looked threw every room in the house to make sure no one else was in there.
Amber later told me about it. She said Ethan hadn't questioned her reasoning, he just did as she asked. After he checked the house, he came back out and got her.
Ethan told him later that night that it took him almost thirty minutes to talk Amber in to coming inside, and once he got her to come in, she grabbed his arm and wouldn't let him go until he got her to her bedroom and promised not to leave the house until the rest of them got home. Ethan had left her in her room and that's where Amber stayed for the rest of the night. She wouldn't even come out to get anything to eat.
We haven't left her alone since. It had been tricky always lining up their schedules. He knew he had to leave a class early on more then one occasion to make sure she wasn't left alone.
A couple days later Ethan had caught her starring out the back door, he'd asked her if she wanted to go out. She shook all over when she told him it was to open. Two days later a twelve foot privacy fence had been installed. The only way to the back yard now was through the house. Now Amber would spend most of her time in the back yard when she was home during the day.
Nick came out of his thought when Ethan snapped his fingers in front of his face.
“What?” Nick growled at his brother.
Ethan chuckled, “The guys are waiting on you.”
Nick only then noticed then that Micca and Lucca had left the room. He walked off without saying goodbye to Ethan. He headed out the front door, to be the designated driver to his two best friends.
Amber's P.O.V.-
She looked at her painting, her assignment had been to paint something from nature. She had chosen the big weeping willow tree in their back yard. The painting was almost done, but she was losing light fast. She would have to finish it up over the next couple of days.
Gathering all of her supplies, she started carrying them all back into the house. Setting what she had in her hands on the bar, she went back out for her painting, and then her easel. The side table she would leave for one of the boys to carry in. It was to heavy for her to carry.
Taking her easel she set it up in a corner of her bedroom by her art table. Going back to the kitchen she delicately picked up her painting and carried it to her room. Going back to the kitchen two more times, she had all her supplies in her room and her painting drying on the easel.
She was tired and in a bad need of a shower. Going to her dresser, she got out a new set of jammy pants, the matching top, and a new set of underwear.
If she didn't know better she would think her roommates were perverts, but no matter how many times she told them to stop, they kept buying her clothes. They had even bought her bra's and panties. But she knew Lucca was the one buying her clothes and since he was gay she didn't mind to much.
Standing up she gasped when she noticed Ethan standing in her door way, starring at her. She knew it was him, even though there was barely enough light to see someone standing there. She knew it was him because he was the only one that ever came to her room. She wasn't sure why none of the others did, but she was grateful. She really didn't like them in her room, but she didn't mind Ethan being there. Even though they had this weird relationship they were dancing around, he never made her feel uncomfortable in the wrong way. She knew he would never hurt her. Heck she knew the others wouldn't either, but she just couldn't relax with the idea of them coming into her room. She didn't even allow Jenni to come in.
She watched him, waiting for him to say something. Hoping he would soon, his starring bothered her, not in a bad way, but in the way that made her blush. Made her stomach all jumpy and her hands shaky.
Finally he said, “I was just making sure you came inside, I'll be in my room if you need me.” With that curt sentence, he walked off. He was in one of his moods again. Some days he would be by her side all day long and wouldn't let her out of his reach, but other days he kept his distance. The first couple of times he did it, she was worried that it was going to be like the time he didn't talk to her for almost five months, but now this only lasted for a couple of days. She never knew which mood he was going to be in, so she just followed his lead, even on the days when she wanted nothing more then curl up in his lap and let him hold her tight.
She waited until she heard his bedroom door shut before she hurried across the hall to the bathroom. Closing the door fast, she took in a deep breath and smelled Ethan. The bathroom always smelled like his body wash. She couldn't help but take another deep calming breath. Stripping down she hurried and got in the shower.
Just as she was finishing her shower, the lights in the bathroom started flickering on and off. She began to panic. She had to get out, she couldn't be in the dark, in a tight small space. Shutting the water off, she got out and grabbed a towel, just as the lights went out for good. She tried to hold it in, but the panic was to much. She curled into a ball on the floor and screamed.
Ethan's P.O.V-
The scream had him shooting off the side of his bed and down the hall at a run. He didn't stop to think if Amber wasn't decently dressed, he barged into the bathroom. All he could think about was he had to get to her. He knew she was afraid of the dark but he had to calm her down. He found her on the floor curled in a ball.
“Amber.” No response from her.
“AMBER!” That must have gotten through because she stopped screaming, but still laid there whimpering. His eyes adjusted enough to realize that she was crawling away from his voice. Thinking quick, he ran to her bedroom and grabbed the candle and lighter she always kept on her dresser. Lighting it he went back to the bathroom. He sat down on the floor and put the candle on the counter next to his head. He wanted her to be able to see it was him, when he finally got her to open her eyes.
“Amber, I need you to look at me.” She just shook her head no. “Amber, its Ethan, I wont hurt you. Open your eyes, you can see for yourself, its me.” After a few breaths, she finally opened her eye's slowly.
Next thing he knew, he had a 120 pound soaking wet women in his lap. He just held on and rocked her back and forth. Ethan didn't know how long they stayed like that. When her breathing finally returned to normal, he stood up with her in his arms and carried her to her room. On his way out the door he grabbed her clothes off the bathroom counter.
Sitting Amber on the edge of her bed, Ethan knelt down in front of her. Without saying a word to her, Ethan put her panties on her, and then her jammy pants. Not once did he take his eyes off her face. Once he had that done, he stood up and pulled her shirt over her head. First he pulled her right arm through the arm hole, and then her left. After pulling her hair out of the neck line he stood her up and pulled the towel off her. During the whole time he had been talking to her. Meaningless stuff, anything to let her know who was touching her and letting her know she wasn't alone.
Her hair was going to be a mess in the morning, but he figured she could deal with it. He was not going to even try.
“Amber, I'm going to help you get in bed, then get your candle. Okay?” By this point I wasn't getting any answers from her. Not even her usual nods.
“Amber?”
She finally looked at Ethan and nodded. I gave her a small smile but knew she couldn't see it. After getting her situated in bed, he quickly retrieved her candle and brought it back to sit it on the nightstand. The nightstand that she usually kept her lamp turned on. After he did that he wasn't sure what to do next. Did he stay with her until she feel asleep or did he go? He didn't want to go, but he wanted her to be okay, so if that meant he had to leave her alone, he would.
“Amber?”
“Hmm?” ah finally a verbal response, she was going to be okay.
“Do you want me to leave you alone now?” She took so long to answer, I thought she hadn't heard me or didn't know how to tell me she wanted me to leave her be. She was always worried about hurting their feelings. So I decided to just go, I didn't want her to feel bad for not wanting me there. I started walking towards the door when I heard, “Ethan, will you stay and hold me?”
I felt my muscles relax. I didn't realize I was that afraid she would tell me to go. Going around to the other side of the bed, Ethan climbed in. I pulled her toward me and rested her head on my shoulder. I wrapped one arm around her back and pulled the covers up over us both. With in moments they were both asleep.