Never As It Seems

Chapter 39

Amber was on her feet.

"She can't! She wouldn't! She was gone before I even came round, so he can't have hurt her!"

Rob reached out for her hand and guided her back to the couch.

"If it was anyone else, we wouldn't be worried."

"But you are aren't you." She stated. "That's why Matt's here."

Rob nodded. Amber remained silent, thinking through all the information her brain had received. She felt like her head was going to explode but she needed to make some sense of it all and fast.

"And he wants to leave me because he thinks I can't deal with this?" She asked without looking up.

"I don't know why Amber. You'll need to ask him."

"But he won't talk to me! He literally pushed me away."

Rob looked at her for a few seconds, obviously trying to decide whether to say what he was thinking or not. Eventually he put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye.

"I've never known you to take 'no' for an answer." He winked at her. "And you did tell me you think he's 'the one'".

Amber chewed on her bottom lip. "Will you come with me?"

He rolled his eyes playfully and held out his hand. Rob didn't knock, he just opened the door and walked into the room. Still holding his hand but lingering behind, Amber followed, reminded of Jay's story as she reentered the room. Matt and Jay were standing, deep in heated conversation. They both stopped and acknowledged Rob's appearance by pausing their discussion. Their gazes simultaneously moved to Amber and Jay visibly tensed. Rob squeezed her hand, which gave her the courage to speak before Jay could tell her to leave again.

"I know what's going on. And I'm not going anywhere. Whether you're here or in prison, I'm not leaving you Jay and you can't make me."

Her conviction caused her to choke on the last words. She and Jay stared at each other as once again Matt and Rob left them. Another tear coursed its way down Amber's cheek and she felt herself shaking again. Unsure whether it was because of her anger at the situation or the pure emotion of it all, she wrapped her arms around herself as though she were cold. Jay stood with his eyes shut tight, visibly battling with himself. She knew all she could do was wait. When he finally looked at her it took what seemed to be all his strength to talk.

"I don't know how you can forgive me." He croaked.

"Because I love you, you idiot!" She smiled at him through her tears.

He managed a smile back and reached out for her. She had imagined she'd throw herself at him the way she had done just a few minutes before but things had changed and although his arm was outstretched, she was still uncertain that he wouldn't push her away again. Taking the few steps across the room, she filled his hand with hers. Her stomach turned with desire when she felt his warmth and she fought to maintain her caution. Now that she was close, she could see his tears were flowing freely too and her resolve undid at the sound of his voice.

"Amber." Was all he said but that one word, so full of emotion, pain, fear and yet relief, carried everything she needed to hear in that moment.

He pulled her closer and rested his cheek to hers. Their tears combined and Amber felt as though the world rested on their shoulders. He kissed her gently and then passionately, driven by all the emotion of the last few days.

"What do we do now?" She whispered as he held her.

His grip loosened slightly and he moved his face a little further away from hers so that he could look at her. She could see he was searching his mind for an answer to her question but all he could manage to say was,