amber's pov:
"Come on Grayson, we're going to be late!" I say as I quickly grab my purse off his bed and run out the door. "My parents are all about first impressions, and if we're late, I promise-" He cuts me off by kissing my lips. "We're going to be fine, your house isn't that far away." He says grabbing my hand as we walk out the front door, locking it behind us.
We aren't even official. Yet I let him kiss me to shut me up. We hold hands, and he treats me like his girlfriend. I mean, it's been a month since our first sleepover. I guess the label just scared me. Although having Grayson, made me feel safe, in the back of my mind I knew that the problems with the unknown man weren't resolved. I guess keeping the label off us, made me feel, less intimidated by the unknown.
"Are you nervous or something babe?" Grayson asked glancing over at me, then back at the road. Babe? He's never called me that before. "Well kind of I guess. You're the first guy I have ever brought to meet my parents. And you already know that they aren't the nicest two people to be around. I'm just scared they're going to be rude to you, and I don't want that." Turning into the driveway of my house, I noticed that my sister was home from her boyfriend's house. Great. That's just what I needed, another opinion on Grayson.
"Just be yourself and they will love you." I say this knowing it wasn't true. I knew my parents would have a strong opinion on Grayson. They would find particular things about him, like his earring, to make uncalled for comments on. It was the little things, that they knew would annoy me.
Grayson and I reached my front door, and were greeted right away by my parents. Growing up, hugging my parents was uncommon, because there was always some kind of tension in my home, so when my mom leaned over to hug me, I was surprised. "Hey mom." I say stepping over the threshold of the front door. "This is Grayson." I lightly put pressure on his back indicating for him to walk closer to my parents and shake their hands.
Grayson introduced himself to them, and my parents did the same. Things were going smoothly until my sister Ashley came down stairs. "Who's this?" she asked pointing to Grayson. Right as I was about to introduce him, Grayson extends his hand out to her and says, "I'm Grayson, you must be Amber's lovely sister."
Kiss up to her. That's the only way she won't show out. This is good.
Instead of shaking his hand respectfully like everyone else did before, she looked down at it with a disgusted look, then at me. "What is he doing here Amber?" I gave her a fake smile as I said, "I wanted y'all to meet him." No I didn't. That was a lie. I wish I could've kept Grayson and I a secret. I didn't want anyone knowing.
"I thought you were afraid of guys anyways. He shouldn't be here, who knows what he might do to you." Ashley said with a smile and giggle. She often thought it was funny to make fun of me for what happened when I was a kid. I look over at my mom, who had a blank look on her face. She didn't care how Ashley treated me, neither did my dad. I just felt completely unwanted in that house.
"Okay, I guess this was a bad idea. We're just going to go upstairs and leave y'all alone." I say grabbing his hand and beginning to walk up the stairs. "No," Ashley stopped my by grabbing my arm. "He can't be alone with you, wouldn't want him to rape you or something." At this point I had tears welling up in my eyes. I pulled my arm away from her and turned around to face my parents. "Grayson and I are going back to his house, I'll be home later."
"No ma'am you are not, you spend too much time with that boy. You're staying home." My mom said forcefully. "In fact, I don't think you should see him for a while, escort yourself out young man." My dad chimed in.
Grayson looked to me for reassurance, and I shook my head allowing a tear to fall down my cheek. He let go of my hand, I know he was just trying to be respectful to my parents, and began to walk out my front door. "Mom, I can't stay here anymore!" As I walk down the stairs and out the door, my parents yell swear words at me to get me to come back to them, but I really couldn't turn back around and walk back inside.
Grayson hadn't left yet, and as my hand touched the handle of the passenger side door, I felt a hand hit me and push me down to the ground. "Get up, and get back in my house right now!" I look up to see my dad looking down at me. My dad just hit me. It wasn't like a punishing spanking, it was a hit out of anger.
I shook my head as I looked at my arm which was bleeding from hitting several rocks on the pavement when I fell. Grayson kept the car running as he quickly got out and walked around to the side I was on. "You're best interest would to get back in your truck and go home Grayson." My dad said turning to him. "I don't think it's safe for Amber to stay here sir."
My dad faced his whole body towards Grayson, and put his finger on his chest. "You're trying to tell me what's okay and what's not okay for my daughter?" Grayson shook his head, "No sir." My dad got closer to him, and lightly pushed him. "Dad stop!" I say sitting up. He turned around and took one look at me, then kicked me in my side, causing me to fall on my back. "Mr. Adams stop!" Grayson said pulling him away from me.
"Don't tell me what to do! You're just a child!" He yelled pushing Grayson harder into the hood of his truck. Tears started streaming down my face. Suddenly, I felt pressure in my eyes, and started blacking out. "Amber, are you okay?" I heard a female voice say. I slowly opened my eyes to see Ashley squatting down next to me. "Call 911." I say quietly.
"No, dad will get in trouble. He's started drinking again. He's drunk." Ashley said getting back to her feet. As she walked away I slowly sat back up, and wiped my eyes to see my dad hitting Grayson on the head with an empty beer bottle. "Dad, please!" I plead. The bottle shatters on his head, shards and blood going everywhere. "David, come on. Let them go." My mom said finally stepping in. She grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards the door.
"I hate you Amber! Go do what you want!" My dad said as he threw another beer bottle, landing it and shattering on my leg. It got dark as my mom shut the front door, and turned the porch light off. "Amber?" Grayson said getting up off the ground and walked towards me. I looked up at him to see blood running down his face, and scratches all over. I felt so bad. "Grayson I am so sorry." I said as he helped me off the ground and into his car.
"We need to get you to the hospital, I'm sure you need stitches." I said running my fingers through his hair. "Yeah probably so." He said backing out of the driveway. "This is not your fault Amber. I really hate that this is the type of situation you have to live with."
I hated it too. But there was nothing I could do about it. This was the life I was given, and it may suck for the most part, but there was nothing I could do about it. Grayson was the only part of my life that I loved
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"You're safe here with me Amber, just close your eyes and fall asleep." Grayson said tracing the freckles on my cheek. "Everything is going to be alright beautiful. I've got you."
I smiled, as I slowly shut my eyes and fell asleep in Grayson's arms.
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woahhhhhh dramatic much?!!!?? thank you for reading! im excited where this book is going :))) stay tuned for the next chapter it might come sooner than usual! ;)
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