Sister Pact: Stuck with her (Book 2)

CHAPTER 8: STORM

Amber looked out of the window in the room that Nick had placed her in to stay until the storm was over. The ‘storm’, a word that she hated ever since the accident and being alone while it thundered and stormed was no longer comforting as it once was.

She looked around the room and saw that it was decorated in a feminine style and she wondered if it could be that Nick had a girlfriend, but Amber quickly shut that thought down. She did not know nick that well but from what she had heard from Tate, Nick was some sort of a loner, who did not like being around people very much which added to Amber’s stress.

A part if Amber wanted to pack her suitcase and leave Nick’s home, but then she worried about the storm, and the last thing she wanted was to step out into the storm ad risk her life again. Nick only had one more kidney left and so did she and she know that the previous time she was lucky and that this time she might not be so lucky.

Amber jumped up from the bed as she heard a loud bolt of thunder strike a nearby tree, there was no ways that she would stay inside this room all by herself. Amber walked out of the room, holding her cellphones flash light out as she walked down the hallway into the living area and Nick was there. He was concentrated on his cup of coffee unaware that there was an intruder in his home, her.

Just go back to bed and sleep, pretend that there isn’t a storm and that there’s no such thing as thunder. Amber told herself, as she silently turned around to return to the guest room that Nick had neatly prepared for her.

“Where are you going?” Nick asked her and Amber stopped right on her tracks, so much for silently returning to her room without Nick noticing.

She turned around and this time Nick was looking at her and his attention withdrawn from the cup of coffee in his hands, there was no light other than the light coming from the fire place that illuminated his face.

“I’m, I’m so sorry for disturbing you, I really did not mean it” she apologized but Nick just smiled at her.

Damn, he has a nice smile… and lips. I wonder how it would feel like to just kiss those lips. As soon as those words entered Amber’s lips, she wished that she had not thought them. There was no way that she would be fantasizing about her donor and worst of all her brother in-laws best friend of all people.

“Amber you can come sit here, I made you coffee by the way. Amber’s eyes followed at the direction of where Nick was pointing t the coffee table where he placed the cup of coffee he had made for her.

Amber thought of saying no but then it hit her that it would be an insult to Nick if she had said no and she did not want to hurt his feelings.

Since when did you ever care for other people’s feelings?

She mentally asked herself as she walked towards the living areas and sat onto the couch. She was never this thoughtful and Amber was seriously wondering if they had not just given her a new kidney but a new heart as well.

Amber knew herself, she knew what people and most of all what her employees called her behind her back, they thought she was a snake and she liked it once upon a time. Now she hated that people thought of her as a conniving snake.

How she had lived with that much hate around her all these years amazed her till this moment.

“Are you going to drink your coffee or are you just going to stare at it” Nick joked and Amber felt embarrassed that she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she had not even touched the cup of tea.

“I’m sorry, I’ve just been thinking?” yeah, she’s been thinking quite a lot.

“Yeah I could see, it’s not like you did not make it obvious” he joked again and she smiled. The two of them were silent and things began to feel a bit awkward.

Amber say something, come on you know how to break the ice! She thought to herself as she sipped her warm cup of coffee, which she had to admit was great coffee.

“So you’re afraid of thunder?” Nick asked her and Amber breathe a sigh of relief that at least he was speaking now.

“Yeah, Well not always, it just started after the—“ Amber stopped herself from finishing her sentence, she hated mentioning that day but Nick got the gist and he did not press further.

“Great coffee by the way” she complimented him, causing him to smile”

“Well thank you, I did not think that you’ll like it really”

“Why would you think that?” she asked him, afraid that she had offended him somehow.

“No, it’s just that you’re known to be a bit, demanding at times” Nick smiled and Amber was horrified and then it hit her, the old her was mean and was never satisfied with pretty much anything.

Amber could not even imagine being someone else and dealing with her own behavior, from her peripheral vision she saw that Nick was looking at her, concerned look plastered over his face.

“I’m sorry, I should not have said that that was totally uncalled for” he apologize and Amber was surprised at how apologizing came easily for him, where as she herself had always struggled with apologizing.

“It’s okay; you don’t have to apologize to me. I actually like that you’re telling me the truth to my face” she smiled at him and he returned the smile. Another moment of silence broke between the two of them.

“How much did you pay for the first top that you got so mad when I spilled coffee over you?”

“Seven hundred, I spent seven hundred dollars on it” Amber had never seen Nick’s eyes grow so big before but clearly he’s never spent that much money on his clothing.

Nick placed his cup of coffee onto the coffee table and now all his attention was on Amber, and she did not like it one bit. Her body was heating up and she honestly hoped that Nick did not notice thing.

Nick knew that Amber’s family was wealthy but it baffled him that she could spent seven hundred dollars on a piece of cloth rather than spend it on something useful. Nick grew up almost dirt poor. Driving from place to place with his mother for them to build a life for the two of them, he would never have dreamt of spending seen hundred dollars on nothing other than food and a place to stay.

He knew that it was not his fault that he grew up poor and he also knew that it was Amber’s fault that she grew up rich. He knew that he had been starring at Amber too long, her cheeks began to blush, and his friend down there was not helping matters.

Nick you seriously need a cold shower. He mentally told himself, the last thing he was to make Amber feel uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry I probably sound so spoilt for spending so much on cloths” she apologized, she even surprised herself.

“No need to apologize, I asked you a question and you answered it honestly” he smiled at her. Nick realized that for as long as the two of them had been talking, he had been smiling more than he usually would.

“Oh Nick, there’s no electricity how did you make this amazing coffee?”

“I have a gas stove at the back; I never really used it and look how it saved us today” r hand the two of them laughed. Nick stood up to from his chair to clear up the dirty cups of coffee and Amber reached out to stop him, she stopped and froze. Her hand brushed against Nick and it was as if he too felt the connection between the two of them looked into her eyes, which was illuminated by the fire coming from the fire place.

Nick wanted to kiss her so much, his lips were drawn to her, and it seemed like Amber felt the attraction too.

“You can kiss me” she urged him and as much as Nick wanted to do that, he knew he could not do that to Amber, on top of that Tate would kill him if he tried to take advantage of his sister in-law.

“I’m sorry Amber, we just can’t. All this is nothing, it’s just lust, and you know that”

“It’s okay, I understand” she told him, with a smirk on her face but deep down she was hurt and she felt somewhat insecure about herself.  For a woman like herself who was always confident she could not believe that she was feeling like this.

What’s wrong with you girl, snap out of it! Amber mentally scolded herself.

“It’s okay Nick, I’ll do it” she insisted and Nick allowed her to take the empty cups of coffee to the kitchen. With her phone in hand she used the flash light to find her way to the kitchen leaving Nick alone in the living room.

As soon as Amber left the room, Nick breathes a sigh of relief. His body was warm not just from the heat from fire place but from the heat his body was releasing from touching Amber.

Nick jumped up from his seat when he heard a noise followed by Amber yelling out in pain, although it was dark throughout the house, Nick still managed to find her. He was shocked to realize that in the heat of the moment he had grabbed his phone and used the flash to find Amber. She was sprawled on the floor, coffee mugs smashed onto the floor, sending shards of ceramic everywhere.

He got down and lifted Amber up into his arms, she yelped in pain but Nick comforted her until he laid her onto a bed.  His bed, he realized.

“Don’t worry Amber, I’ll get the first aid kit” he left her to get the first aid kit, but he could still hear Amber aching in pain and that tugged at his heart a bit. He flashed the light at the bathroom cupboard and as soon as he found the first aid kit Nick rushed back to his room only to find Amber still lying on the bed here he had left her.

She was quite but Nick could see that she was holding back the tears in her eyes, he knew she was strong but at times  Nick wanted her to realize that it was okay to not be strong at times, she was only human after all.

Nick closely examined her hand, only to find that shards of glass had cut through her had her left knee was swollen and she winced in pain when he touched it.

“Amber can you get up, I need to tend to you” he told her but she did not move, she just winched in pain. These were the moments that Nick wished that he did not live that far from the hospital, he wanted to drive all the way to the hospital and have them take proper care of Amber but the last thing he wanted to do was cause her more harm than needed.

It only took less than fifteen minutes for Nick to tend to Amber’s injuries and as soon as he was done he breathe out a sigh of relief, thanking his grandfather for forcing him into taking a first aid course. Nick looked at the handy work that he had done by cleaning up Amber’s wounds and bandaging it as for her leg he bandaged it and placed an ice pack onto her knee.

He placed a chair next to his bed, only to watch Amber sleep peacefully, one would never had believe that this was the same woman who not so long ago was complaining that she was in pain. Now here she was sleeping like a princess.

He needed her to get better and hopefully for the storm to end, because staying with Amber like this brought up feeling that he did not want to feel at all and that was dangerous— for the both of them.

He looked out at his bedroom window one more time, and even though he wanted to kid himself that the storm was going to end anytime soon, he knew that he would be telling himself the biggest lie possible.

For now he had to deal with this challenge and that was how to stay away from Amber, whilst being stuck in the same house with her.

Keep away from her, you, and her are from two different worlds. Nick reminded himself and he knew that he had to keep reminding himself that, it was the only way he could keep Amber at bay.

In Nick’s mind Amber was easily swept by false emotions whereas Nick knew the cold hard truth of lust camouflaged as love, his mother learnt the hard way and she’s still learning it the hard way.

**

“Get Ariel!” Tate yelled out to Viola who was now rushing to get her daughter from her room. Ariel was yelling her lungs out in fear of the sounds of thunder striking at regular intervals.

As soon as Viola held her daughter, she could see that her daughter’s face had reddened and her eyes filled with tears. She latched onto Viola’s cloths as if her life depended on it and that brought tears to her eyes.

“Are you okay?” Tate asked Viola who turned her attention to her husband; Tate saw that not just his daughter was crying but his wife too. He took two steps towards her and touched the side of his wife’s face.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m just thinking that if Ariel is this scared then, I’m wondering just how my sister must be feeling”

Nick knew that that the union between him and Viola had made a lot of people very uncomfortable,  it may even had put some strains on the three sisters relationship. But over the past few months of Amber being admitted into the hospital, the sisters have warmed up to each other, all except Scarlet.

Tate wished he could say that he understood her pain but he could not but one thing he did know was that his wife was hurting and he too was worried. Tate took one more look at his daughter and he saw that she was calming down, and it hurt him to think of how he would feel if anything had happened to his wife and daughter.

Tate reached out his hand as his wife passed little Ariel to him. His daughter was growing healthier and heavier by the day and that delighted him, he never pictured himself to have a happy family but here he was a husband and father.

Tate looked at his little family and he knew that he was indeed blessed and he promised himself that as soon as the storm ended he would fins Amber if that was the last thing he did.