Chapter 4

Amber

“You saw who?” Kelly asked.

“Fucking Tyler. The guy from college? Remember him?” I asked.

“How could I forget? You called me up squealing that you’d lost your virginity,” Kelly said, giggling.

“Shut up and listen,” I said. “He’s Luke’s fucking business partner. As in, he’s going to be in LA Frequently. Because they’re expanding here.”

“Will you let him expand you again?” she asked.

“Are you serious, Kelly?” I asked. “The man who took my virginity and gave me my first orgasm is fucking sleeping at my parents’ house, and all you can think about is whether or not I’m going to do him?”

“He made you cum! That doesn’t always happen with men,” she said.

“Don’t I know it,” I said.

“Did you love him?” she asked.

“Love Tyler?”

“Yeah. Back in college,” she said. “When you two were hooking up or whatever it was. Did you love him?”

“I mean, I guess? I was a giddy college girl who was being paid attention to by a senior. A hot senior with rippling muscles, to boot. I was probably as in love as I could’ve been for the moment,” I said.

“You know what I mean. You were really in love with him?” she asked.

“We were only together for, like, two months. How the hell am I supposed to know?” I asked.

“My parents say you just know that kind of stuff,” she said.

“Well, no. If I’m supposed to just ‘know,’ then I didn’t know shit,” I said.

“What cut your fling short?” she asked.

“He left. He graduated and got whisked away to New York City, and now I realize who whisked him away,” I said.

“Your brother,” she said.

“Exactly. All I knew was he was going off to start his life or whatever with his business degree, and he couldn’t do long distance relationships. And, I was okay with that.”

“Did you have any idea he knew you brother?” she asked. “Did you have any inkling of an idea that he was going with Luke to New York City?”

“Not a fucking clue,” I said. “I didn’t even know Luke had a business venture lined up in New York City. I thought he was pursuing a graduate degree!”

“This is fate, Amber,” she said.

“Oh, shit. Here we go,” I said.

“I’m serious. You mean to tell me this man rocks your world in college, runs off with your brother, then comes back here to expand his business and is now sleeping in your childhood home? How the hell is that not fate?” she asked.

“You make it sound like my brother stole my boyfriend,” I said, smirking.

“I didn’t realize he was your boyfriend,” she said.

“Of course, we were fucking! At least, I think he was, anyway. I wasn’t seeing anyone else while he was seeing me,” I said.

“Anyone else would’ve been a disappointment anyway, from what you’re telling me,” she said.

“And you should see the way he looks now. Oh, girl. He looks more luscious than he did in college,” I said.

“More muscles? More bad boy?” she asked.

“All the muscles and all the bad boy,” I said.

“Sounds right up your alley, which means your mom’s going to hate it,” she said.

“If my mom had it her way, I would’ve married rich right out of high school and never even gone to college. You know they’re still expecting me to take over my dad’s production company?”

“Sounds like fun,” she said flatly.

“Why the hell don’t they understand that I have my own dreams, too? Luke got to go off and pursue his, and yet I’m stuck running something I’m not happy doing? Where’s the fairness in that?” I asked.

“You could use Tyler to relieve some of that stress you’re carrying,” she said, smirking.

“You’re relentless,” I said.

“And I still believe it’s fate,” she said.

“Well, I don’t. So stuff it,” I said.

“I intend to once our food gets here,” she said.

Kelly was my best friend and my rock. I met her my freshman year of college when we were both in the dancing program, but she was just taking it for recreational purposes. She was an education major and had a passion for working with special needs children, and all I could do was wish her the best. She had the patience of a monk and the determination of a momma bear defending her cubs. She always told me she considered her students her children, and there was never a moment where I ever heard her complain about her job.

Not once.

She was the saint to my devilishness and had a wicked crush on my brother. She didn’t think I knew, but every time I talked about my family, she would ask how he was. I kept telling her to come over one day and have lunch with all of us, but she always refused, saying she was too nervous or too busy or too sick. I knew she’d give me a hard time about this Tyler bullshit, but I also knew she’d always tell me the truth.

Well, the truth according to her.

We stuffed our faces with food while I asked her about work, and she had nothing but glowing things to say about her students. Mark—a six-year-old who still wasn’t speaking well—said his first sentence a couple of weeks ago, and a high-functioning autistic child in her class was beginning to finally open up and talk with her. Randy—a cute little boy with Down’s Syndrome—brought her an apple today before giving her a massive hug And Mandy—another little girl with Down’s Syndrome—was beginning to finally make friends in class. She talked me through the developments her small little students were going through, and I sat there and smiled, wishing I could love my job as much as she loved hers.

My father wanted me to take over the business, and my mother wanted me to marry rich. The only problem is, neither of those things were what I wanted to do with my life.

I wanted to open my own dance studio right in the heart of LA I wanted to reach out to the types of students Kelly worked with and offer them classes they could come to and have fun. I wanted to create a safe space for teenagers to go on the weekends while they learned a new skill, and I wanted to have professional classes where I taught budding Broadway stars how to control their entire bodies while singing out to the masses.

I wanted to love my life the way Kelly loved hers, but it seemed like my family was out to completely destroy that.

And now Tyler Raymond was nothing but a fucking distraction I couldn’t afford.

My vibrating phone stopped the conversation in its tracks and pulled me from my thoughts. It vibrated deep within the pockets of my purse, roaring to life with its incessant bothering of the outside world. There were many times I wanted to simply shut my phone down and cut out everything that didn’t align with the plans I had for my life.

But, my mother would probably send a search party to find me four hours later.

“Maybe it’s Tyler,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

“That dick doesn’t even have my number,” I said.

“Wasn’t talking about his junk. I was talking about him,” she said, grinning.

“Just my mom,” I said. “Hold on a second. Hey, Mom.”

“Hey there sweetheart,” my mom said. “Could you come over and help me decorate?”

“What are you decorating for?” I asked.

“For Christmas, sweetheart,” she said with a sigh.

“Oh. I thought you were throwing some lavish party for Luke or something,” I said.

“No, we aren’t praising our perfect child like you believe that we always do this time,” she said. “Just some boring Christmas decorations to celebrate the holidays.”

“I’ll be over there soon. Try not to marry me off before I get there,” I said.

“Can’t make any promises,” my mother said. “See you soon.”

I rolled my eyes and hung up the phone, but inside I was nervous. Going back over to the house meant seeing Tyler again, and I wasn’t sure what would happen now that the shock of seeing him had worn off. Maybe he was only hot because he was a surprise. Maybe I would go over there, think he was ugly as fuck, and laugh behind his back while I put up all the garland around the house.

Or maybe he’d be hotter today, and I’d try to steal glances at him whenever no one was looking. Which was always, because everyone was always looking at Luke anyway.

“You’re nervous,” Kelly said.

“Of course, I’m nervous,” I said. “Why the hell wouldn’t I be?”

“My advice? Fuck him.”

“That’s shit advice, Kelly. Thanks,” I said.

“No, I’m serious. He’s popped back up into your life, and he is a blatant reminder of something you could’ve had, but didn’t. Fuck him to get him out of your system, then he won’t be anything but the guy you fucked in college,” she said.

“I don’t think that’s even slightly accurate,” I said.

“If you sleep with him and he’s terrible at it, or you don’t like it, then you get to move on. If you sleep with him and you love it, or he’s wonderful at it, then you can keep up a fling that will give you something in this city to smile about,” she said.

“Or, I could not fuck him at all, avoid the house for the holidays, and cut out both the drama of him and the drama of my family in one fell swoop,” I said.

“If you would just take the advice, you’d get your answer, Amber, because the reason you’re nervous isn’t that you’re about to see him.”

“Then why I am nervous, oh wise, sprawling Oracle?” I asked.

“You’re nervous because you’re wondering if he wants to see you,” she said, grinning.

“Check, please,” I said.

And Kelly sat back in her chair and laughed while I paid for lunch.