Never Before | ✓

Chapter nine

Chapter nine

"Do you want to share? Why were you crying?" Caleb asks in a gentle voice. I think for a moment.

"Remember, I told you that my parents hate each other's gut?" He nods and I continue, "Well, turns out that they are screwing someone else. My mom is with some stranger and my dad is with his assistant." I don't tell him about Selena's mom because even I'm not aware of the complete truth. He sighs and scoots closer to me.

"You don't have to carry your parents stress everywhere you go, Amber. You're just seventeen. You deserve to be happy. Besides, what you're parents do is not your concern right now. Focus on your future, too."

"You don't understand, Caleb! What if my parents decide to divorce? What will happen to me? They first off hate me for the things that I've done!" I frantically get up and look here and there. Panic seizes me. What if this really happens? Will they just leave me to Reggie?

"They don't hate you, Amber!" Caleb stands up. I start muttering things, weighing the possibilities of might happen to me if they split up. Caleb all of the sudden cups my face with his hands, making sure they don't reach my scar and makes me look at him.

"Amber, relax. They are not splitting up right now. Besides, you have me and our friends. You have to stop worrying about the future. You don't have to be so paranoid. Loose a little, Amber, for yourself." His voice is so gentle. I melt at his words. His icy blue eyes are so deep.

"Caleb..." I say. "I can't. I am not even sure if I have a future or not especially after all this." He sighs.

"Come along," he demands and drags me out of the backyard. He force me to hop into his black jeep.

"What are you doing?" I ask him while his eyes are glued on the road.

"Letting you loose a bit," he smiles as his eyes sparkle in the moonlight. I silently sit and watch outside. Stars appear to be beautiful than ever. Twenty minutes later, I find myself in front of the beach. The water is sparkling because of the moonlight. The beach is dimly lit as the lamppost aren't working properly. There are hardly any people around us which, in some way made me comfortable and easy to let loose. Caleb is correct..maybe, just maybe, I deserve to be happy.

"Do you want ice-cream?" He suggests and I agree without even thinking twice. Who can say no to an ice cream especially if it is chocolate? Caleb tells me to wait there while he gets us some ice-cream. I take out my phone as it was buzzing continuously earlier. I reply to all the texts that I have received and then stuff my phone back in my pocket and gaze at the beautiful scenery.

Wes: Can we talk tomorrow?

Me: sure:)

Selena: Are you coming to school tomorrow?

Me: Yes

Ellie: When can you start tutoring me?

Me: tomorrow?

Mom: I'm going out with Larry. Give dad his pills.

Me: wow. you care to inform?

The beach waves sound was pleasing than ever. I could sit here long and long.

"Hello, sexy," I hear a hoarse voice. I turn around to find four guys smirking at me. I give them shut the fuck up type of look and begin to walk away. All of a sudden, one of them grabs my arm and my chest crashes on his hard one. He looks at me with his blue eyes foreshadowing a warning.

"Leave me, asshole," I say with much confidence. He doesn't scare me at all. His smirk grows wider.

"Boys," he turns to the other three of them. "Let's have some fun. She looks like a snack." Bad time, asshole. You pressed my bad bitch button. He smiles at all of them as he leans into me. As soon as his grip on my arms loosens, I take this opportunity to kick his precious family jewels. He clutches his groin and groans in pain while stepping away. The other boy goes to help the asshole while the other two come toward me. Two for one! Not fair. I have tackled people before they were not even half as strong as these boys are.

Drumroll please, I'm officially in trouble for not thinking logically.

"Two for one, you think you can pull this off?" A boy asks with a sinister smile on full display. His eyes travel behind me. I turn around to find Caleb glaring at both of them.

"I think I can." He drops the ice-cream and charges to punch both of the boys. I stand there, unsure of what to do. The hell I'm not letting Caleb fight alone. Caleb is strong but it isn't a fair game. Caleb dodges a few punches but one hits him hard. He spits blood and I don't waste the opportunity to take a fistful of sand and jump on the back of one of those guys. I put all the sand in his eyes and he screams in pain and I jump down. I smile at my victory and I watch Caleb knock the other guy out. He looks at me and his eyes fill terror.

"We aren't done yet." A voice from behind says. I spin around to find the other guys. One of them is the one I kicked earlier. Caleb walks in front of me and pulls me behind him.

"This is between you and me, Henry. Don't pull her into this," Caleb warns him. Henry tilts his head to look at me.

"You found a hot girl, stepbrother but what's yours is mine." Stepbrother? What. The. Fuck?!

"What do you want in exchange for her?" Caleb asks. What the hell? I'm not some kind of material to exchange. Henry comes closer and whispers something to Caleb. Caleb sighs.

"Fine." Henry lets out evil laughter.

"Tomorrow evening at eight..um..at the haunted house." Caleb nods and all of them walk away except for that knocked out guy. Caleb turns around and looks at me.

"I'm sorry for the ice-cream." I laugh with no emotion. "Really? Sorry for ice-cream? What did he ask for?" I ask in a concerned tone. We begging walking toward his jeep.

"Nothing much. Just some important papers," he lies. I can figure out when he is lying because his voice lacks usual Caleb confidence.

"Oh, my God! Is he adopting you?" I joke and we both burst into laughter. "I'm sorry again. I wanted you to let loose and my enemies appeared out of nowhere."

"It's fine, Caleb. That's just my life."

"You don't have any questions about Henry?" He asks with confusion lingering his tone of speaking. I shake my head.

"I figured out that you will share if you wish to. Besides, just like you said, 'you don't have to share everything with me'" I try to mock him.

"You know I didn't mean that." Guilt is laced in his voice. "Yeah, yeah you did," I answer in a shallow voice. He doesn't reply to that. Maybe, I shouldn't have said that because the brightness from his face fades away.

"Even I don't tell you everything. We don't owe any explanation to each other. As far as, we enjoy being with each other, nothing matters."

(Oo, stepbrother, I see)