I looked into the mirror and took in my reflection. Lightly, I traced my scar with two fingers. I couldn’t wear this. I glanced back at my wardrobe, knowing I didn’t have a one piece. Groaning and throwing my hair up in a loose ponytail in frustration, I stormed over to my bed and threw myself backwards into it.

I wanted to swim in our heated pool, but I didn’t want to flaunt my scar in my brothers’ faces, but when it came down to it, it was their fault I had it so they couldn’t hate me for it, could they?

Sitting up quickly, before I lost my confidence, I swooped up an oversized t-shirt and pulled it over my head; it stopped mid-thigh. I flung open my bedroom door and swooped up my phone.

I froze when I saw Jax standing in his doorframe, about to walk out. His eyes snapped to mine, and widened with shock. I froze in my doorway.

It was Jax, Amber. JAX. Pull it together.

We both opened our mouths at the same time, but, before either of us could say anything, his bedroom door widened, and a tall, skinny, beautiful brunette stood in the frame.

Jax didn’t look at her, his eyes fixed on me. Was he watching or waiting for my reaction?

“Amber!” Ella smiled at me, before she crossed her arms. “It’s been a while.”

“That it has El, how are you?” I replied, ripping my eyes from Jax and looking Ella in the eye.

“Good, good.” She nodded her head and although her smile was friendly, her body language was anything but. “I heard you and Blake are back together?”

Ella, or El as she was more often known as, was a pornstar; or at least she used to be. She was now a high class model for porn commercials. She was also one of many in the long string of ex-girlfriends Blake had; a list I was now a part of.  Although her and I were friendly, we both knew she hated me. Basically, Blake had broken up with her, well… he didn’t even really break up with her because he didn’t ever really call her his girlfriend, but, when it came down to it, he ‘broke’ up with her to date me.

“No, we’re not actually.” I plastered a fake smile and glanced at Jax and then back at her “So you got a new man, El? Good for you.”

El glanced at Jax and then back at me nervously. “I don’t do relationships anymore.” She stood up slightly taller, adding, “Not when I have an endless list of men.”

I nodded my head. “Fair enough.”

“So what, you were just staying with Blake then? You guys weren’t actually back together?” Her eyebrows frowned together as she waited for my response.

What could I say? Pornstars have the looks, just evidently not very good hearing.

“Yep. He was helping me out, like I said before.” I reached behind me and pulled my door closed “Well, I better be going.”

“Wait Am!”

I turned my eyes back to El; of course she had more questions. “Yep?”

She nodded her head in the direction of my bedroom door. “So, whose room is that?” She smiled, kind of evil, at me.

I frowned for a moment, and then realized she didn’t know I lived here. I hid my smirk. If she knew I lived across from the room of the guy she had lined up as her next man, she would be here every night.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I smirked slightly, and then walked away from them, quickly.

Jax didn’t say anything, nor did he make an attempt to speak to me as I darted away from them. Looks like I was really missed, I scoffed to myself. Who was I kidding?

Jax was a player. A cold hearted one at that.

***

I dangled my feet in the heated pool, and my phone buzzed beside me. I reached for it and opened the message. Seeing Blake’s number on the screen, I sighed lowly before I read it.

‘This song reminds me of you. Just thought I would let you know.’

Frowning, I pulled my feet out from the pool and walked to the side, plugging the aux cable into my phone and clicking on the link to the file that was in the message. I pushed play and slowly the surround sound system came to life.

“You were my everything” by Aviation began to echo through the enclosed pool area. I pulled the t-shirt off and flung it to the side. Walking down the stairs into the pool, I smiled as I heard the lyrics.

The water swallowed my body until I slowly got on my back and floated across the water. Listening to every word pulled at my heartstrings. Should I go back to him?

The only part of the song that didn’t fit was the new man line. I didn’t have a new man, and perhaps that was a good thing.

We were over, but I knew he would always love me just like I would always love him.

“What the hell is this soft crap?”

I got on my feet and looked at the side of the pool at Cole, who reached for my phone and unplugged it.

“Are you going soft on us, Amber?” Cole gave me a cocky grin before he reached for his phone and plugged it in.

“What are you doing in here?” I tried to mask my irritation.

“You mean what are we doing here?” Tyler corrected me, strolling towards the pool. “And to answer your question… swimming with you.”

“NO you are not,” I grunted, and then glared at the two of them. “Don’t you have something better to do?”

“I thought they were lying to me when they told me this morning that you were back,” Tyler shot me his easy going grin and pulled his t-shirt off, putting his toned muscles and tattoos on display.

“Great. You have seen, you have been, and now you can piss off,” I shot in his direction, and then looked back at Cole as he played with my phone. “Stop touching that,” I barked at him.

He rolled his eyes as he chose a song and “Escape the Fate, Issues,” boomed from the speakers. I gasped as water sprayed across my face, as Tyler launched himself into the pool. I turned around to glare at him, but, before I could, two arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me under.

The music hit my ears with a boom as I re-surfaced, splashing a load of water at Tyler in rebellion.

“God, you are a tool,” I groaned in his direction. I noticed Cole running towards me, and I yelled out. “Don’t…”

But I was too late. My mouth filled with water as he landed with a thud in the water, and I reached to wipe the water from my eyes.

“I forgot how hot this pool can get,” Tyler said causally, as he floated on his back. Cole reached out and pulled a big ring from the side, and pulled himself into it, floating.

“So, what made you come back?” Cole said as he kicked off from the side, and floated into the middle of the water. As he spun around, I saw my name tattooed on the top of his back shoulder blade. I remembered the first time he had showed it to me; it was before they had all left.

I softened my tone, feeling nostalgic at the sight of the tattoo.

“It was time,” I announced, pushing the wet hair from my face. “I said I would be back.”

“No you didn’t. You just left,” Tyler grunted, leaning on the side of the pool opposite me. “You didn’t tell us anything.”

“Yeah, well I’m back now so it doesn’t matter.” I leaned my head back and stared up at the ceiling. “So, what has been going on around here?”

“You know… a bit of this, a bit of that. Dad’s gone to some conference; he has been gone all week… comes back next week I think,” Tyler said lightly.

I wasn’t surprised dad wasn’t here; he was a busy man. “So, that would explain why he didn’t surface last night, when you guys had your little...” I pulled my head forward and looked between the two. “What would you call that? A group booty call?”

Cole rolled his eyes at me, while Tyler chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah well we weren’t expecting you back,” Cole pointed out, before kicking off from the side again. “Seeing as you’re back now, you can go back to school as of Monday.”

“Oh joy,” I grunted. “What did I ever do to be so lucky.”

“I think Jax has been missing you there,” Tyler said, as he slowly began to creep in Cole’s direction.

“What do you mean?” I arched an eyebrow at him, as he slowly crept up to Cole who had his back to him, still floating on his giant ring.

Anyone could see what was going to happen next.

One.

Two.

Three.

Cole let out a surprised scream as he went flying into the water and Tyler claimed his giant ring, quickly pushing himself off in the other direction of the pool.

The pool sliding door slid open, and I quickly looked in another direction as Jax walked in, followed by Adam with his hand entangled with a pretty blondes.

Looks like someone hadn’t gotten rid of last night’s flame. Wait a sec, make that two someones; I noticed El out of the corner of my eye.

“Geez, this room is massive,” a light voice said, and I glared at Tyler and Cole as they wrestled for the giant ring. It was their fault that we now had more visitors. I wanted to whack them both over their stupid heads.

“Is the water warm?”

I turned my head to the Blonde as she went to dangle a toe in the water. They couldn’t possibly be thinking about swimming in here, right?

I saw the annoyance in Jax’s eyes as El slid out of her dress. I wanted to yell that a bra and undies were not a bathing suit, but what was the point?

The blonde followed in Ella’s footsteps, and pulled her dress off.

“What song is this?” The blonde asked, as “Changed the Way You Kissed Me” by Example played. Adam told her what it was.

“So, Amber, which one is yours?” El winked at me, and then glanced between Cole and Tyler.

I began to choke on nothing, as I visualized what she was saying to me.

Cole and Tyler looked in complete horror as they waited for me to correct her.

“They’re her brothers,” Jax answered for me, and I nodded my head. El seemed slightly surprised by this little bit of information and then looked at me.

“I didn’t know you had brothers.”

“You know what Amber, I am starting to think you are ashamed of us,” Adam winked at me, helping the blonde down the stairs.

“Denial is one step closer to acceptance, I suppose,” I shot at him, and then cocked my head to look at Jax. He snapped his eyes away from me as soon as I looked at him.

“So Amber, tell me what is new with you?” El said, being friendly, as she began to walk in the water towards me.

God shoot me, or at least give me duct tape, so I can tape that mouth of hers shut. I was not in the mood to make conversation.

“You know… nothing much. You?”

I swung my legs out in front of me as I gripped the edge of the pool.

“This, that and everything in-between,” she finally replied, and leaned against the pool wall next to me; of course.

“Exciting,” I replied and then looked at Adam and the blonde who were mucking around with each other. “Who’s she?” I nodded my head in their direction.

“That’s Gab. She’s an underwear model,” El answered, and then flipped her head back to look up at Jax, who was yet to grace us with his presence in the water.

“You coming in?” she asked him sweetly.

“Yeah Jax, get your gear off, and get in here with your girlfriend,” I spun around and said up to him. I was over this silent thing that we had going on at the moment.

“I’m not his girlfriend. I don’t do boyfriends remember,” El informed me as she blushed.

“That’s not what I heard Jax say last night.” I smiled up at him innocently, while he narrowed his eyes at me.

El looked up at me and frowned slightly. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“Hey, it’s not my place to tell you the one thing Jax loves about you.”

Yeah Jax, why don’t you tell her that she is only good for one thing. I wanted to slap him across his face for his views on women.

“What is she on about?” El looked up at Jax, while he crossed his arms, keeping his eyes on me.

I knew he knew what I was on about. I wondered if he was shocked that I had heard his confession; well, it had been more of a statement.

“Who knows,” Jax said coolly. “You still high on your boyfriend’s drug fumes, Amber?”

“I don’t have a boyfriend, so the answer to that question would be no.” I cocked my head to the side. “You really can’t remember Jax? Well, you said it just before you went to bed last night. Come on, you know what I am referring to.”

Jax shrugged his shoulders innocently, and added, “El already knows I care about her. I don’t think that would surprise her.”

“You do?” Ella’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Doesn’t look like it,” I sang, floating away from them.

Jax shot me a dirty look before looking at El. I wonder how he was going to get out of this. “I don’t do girlfriends El, you know that, but, if I did, you would be the one.”

I wanted to scoff. What a cop out.

“El and I have heard that line before,” I said, looking Jax in the eye. “From a better player than you.”

Blake had had many girlfriends, but he would never refer to them as his girlfriends. Well, with me it was different; he would openly say I was his girlfriend, but for all the others, they were all classed as girlfriends, but he never really looked at them like that.

“Yeah, but you actually turned him around,” El said in my direction. “But she is right Jax.”

Jax groaned and then ripped his t-shirt off; my eyes scanned his tattoos. Man, he .

Jax was already wearing black branded board shorts. Slowly, he lowered himself into the water next to El.

“Fine, let’s do it,” he said to her.

My mouth dropped open. Hell no! Don’t do it. I had expected him to push her off or set her straight.

“You mean, be your girlfriend?” She looked as surprised as I was. No-one else in the pool seemed to be taking in the scene in front of me.

“Yeah, why not,” Jax said, taking her hands from under the water and pulling her slightly closer to him. “You’re the hottest chick I know. Plus, you’re the only chick I would not want to screw and hurl aside.”

Well, I had never heard better reasons to go into a relationship. I gritted my teeth, was he doing this to piss me off?

“I…” El blushed, “For real?” she asked?

Jax lowered his head down to hers. “Yeah.”

“I LOVE THIS SONG!” Tyler screamed and startled everyone.

“Where the Wild Things Are” by Bliss n Eso boomed through the speakers.

Tyler rapped the lyrics and I found it really amusing.  I glanced back at Jax, but felt disgusted; as he had his lips locked with Ella’s.

Oh, that was foul.

I caught my phone flashing behind them, and it immediately spiked my curiosity. Swimming to the side, next to them, I pulled myself up and out of the water, not thinking about the large scar on my stomach for the first time in weeks.

Water dripped from me as I picked up my phone. The number was restricted. I put it to my ear.

“Amber?”

“Um, yeah?” I responded, bringing my other hand to my other ear to block the music out.

“It’s Ashley.”

I frowned. Ashley… I didn’t know an Ashley. Well, not a guy Ashley anyway.

“Ashley who?”

“Ashley Greenhood? Blake’s right hand.”

“Oh.” And now the memories came flooding back to me. “What’s up?”

“It’s Blake. He’s been arrested. The cops have raided the house and, from what I overheard, they are coming for you next.”

My eyes widened. “You mean to my house?” I panicked into the phone.

“Yeah. Look, I got to go, we have houses to clean before they hit them. Just giving you a heads up,” Ashley said in a hurry, and then the phone went dead.

Blake arrested.

Houses raided.

I was next.

I processed all this information in my mind quickly, and then cursed loudly.

I went running down the length of the pool, the boys sensing my urgency and throwing questions at me.

“Cops are going to raid us!” I yelled over my shoulder as I slid the glass door open quickly.

I heard the frantic splashing as the boys hurried out of the pool, but I didn’t stop to get their advice, or listen to their thoughts on the matter.

I had my own evidence to destroy.

***

“What the hell have you got that they would want?” Cole yelled at me as I flung clothes in every direction. Where the hell did I leave it?

“Don’t you guys have your own stuff to hide or destroy?,” I shot at him.

“Unlike you little sister, we don’t bring business home.” He grunted in annoyance, and I pushed past him and went to my bedside table.

“So, you are telling me those guns you carry are licensed?” I barked as I emptied the contents of my night stand on my bed.

Cole cursed under his breath and quickly left the room, only to be replaced by Troy.

“Amber, what have you got that the cops want?” He crossed his arms and watched me sift through the junk on my bed.

“Nothing,” I shot at him. Well, if I couldn’t find it, maybe they wouldn’t be able to either.

I heard the pounding on the front door and my eyes went wide. I scrambled to the closet and pulled a t-shirt over my wet bikini top, and then quickly pulled on a pair of shorts.

The boys hadn’t even mentioned my scar, or looked at it. Though their minds were elsewhere, they weren’t taking in my scar, they were too busy wondering what the hell had me going through my room like a mad woman.

My head suddenly snapped up and relief washed over me. “It’s not here.” I said out loud. I’d just remembered hurling it over the bridge, into the river.

“What isn’t here?” Troy frowned at me, and I shook my head.

“Doesn’t matter now.” I walked past him and down the corridor, although he turned quickly to follow me.

We both reached the top of the stairs as the cops broke through the door, screaming their usual shit.

I put both hands in the air and Troy did the same.

***

We all sat in the lounge. The boys sat across from me and the girls sat with them. I was on my own in the armchair as the detective with his bullet vest studied me.

“So Amber, been a while,” he stated smugly.

“Sorry, have we met before?” I arched an eyebrow and crossed a leg over my knee. “I don’t have the best memory.”

I knew that they weren’t allowed to ask questions when searching the house, but cops were pigs so they didn’t really follow the rules; the rules that they created.

Tyler grunted in amusement, and the detective narrowed his eyes at me.

“Did your boyfriend give you a warning? From the looks of your room, you were looking for something,” the detective stated as he closed the file in his hand and crossed his arms in front of me. “Why don’t you just help us out Amber, and, in return, you’d be doing yourself a favor.”

“Do you always use that line?” I leaned back in the chair, keeping my eyes squarely locked with his. “And my boyfriend did nothing of the sort, because I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Was the breakup messy?” he asked, lowering his head to stare me down. “Perhaps some payback is in order?”

“I would, if there was anything to tell,” I said lightly, and glanced at Cole as he cursed at a cop who was searching him. “Is there a reason you are taking this out on my brothers? I thought you were here to question me?”

“Satan’s Sons are always a point of interest,” he informed me. The detective took a step closer to me. “Where is it Amber?”

“Where is what?”

“Where is the murder weapon that was used on Ryan Raymond? The gun your boyfriend pointed to his head and shot him with.”

Ryan who? We never shot at any Ryan.

“You must have your wires twisted,” I replied, honestly confused. “I don’t know a Ryan and I don’t know anything about a murder weapon.”

Well, that was half right anyway. I did know of a murder weapon, but it didn’t have anything to do with the murder of Ryan… whatever his last name was.

“Really? Because you and Blake also took care of his brother, Jake Markus.” 

That murder I did know of, and that murder weapon was floating somewhere in the ocean by now.

“Jake had a brother? Never knew that,” I said, crossing my arms. “Although Jake never really talked much.”

“Well, he doesn’t talk at all now,” the detective spat at me. “Give them up Amber. We have solid information that you have them.”

Jake was a low life piece of scum, and if anyone deserved to greet death, it was him.

“I don’t know what you are on about.” I keep my eyes forward and continued, “And I suggest you stop saying I do.”

“Trust is an important thing to you, isn’t it,” the detective’s lips curled evilly. “Trust, loyalty.”

I nodded my head, not fully understanding where he was going with this.

“To be betrayed by someone you trusted… that would cut deep, wouldn’t it?” The cop placed a hand on the armchair, putting his face dangerously close to mine. “To be betrayed by someone you cared about. Someone you trusted.”

“What are you implying?” I said hotly, my fingers curling into fists.

“I think you know what I am saying. Blake is going to be deeply cut when he realizes…” The cop stood back up to his full height abruptly and turned around to face another officer who had just walked in. “Search complete?”

The officer nodded his head and I knew they had nothing on me. The detective I think knew this as well, as he turned to face me.

“Pity. Blake wasn’t as lucky as you’ve been today,” he shot at me, before walking out the room. The cops followed him.

“What do you mean?” I said with anger as I got up from the chair and walked quickly in the direction of the foyer as they began to file out. Finally, the raid was over.

“You will find out soon enough,” the detective shot at me, narrowing his eyes. “I promise you Amber. You will be going down for both of their murders. Oh, and a bit of advice. If I were you, I would get that scar tattooed over because everyone knows a marked woman is a dead woman walking.”

He walked out the front door and my eyes widened; only my family and the handful of people staying at Blake’s knew about that scar. This means he had someone on the inside, an undercover cop or someone who was working with them.

His reference to trust now slapped me in the face. Someone was betraying us and Blake was now paying the price.