I softly cracked open the window, and then slid into the dark study. Carefully, I closed the window behind me, making sure not to make any noise. Dull, soft music floated from under the closed wooden doors, and I positioned myself in the large armchair, and waited.

Pulling the gun out from behind my back and placing it on my lap, I could hear the thudding of footsteps get louder as someone walked towards the room. I was pleased when the door opened up, and the lights were flicked on. Looked like I wouldn’t spend the whole night waiting in the dark after all.

Scott walked towards his desk, with a scotch glass in hand.

“Didn’t take you as a scotch drinker,” I said, breaking the silence with an evil little smile. Scott spun around, dropping his glass. “That will stain,” I said as I twisted my head to the side, enjoying the panic on his face. “Don’t be scared Scott, I just came to chat,” I offered.

I saw his eyes move to the gun in my lap. People always took you more seriously when you were carrying one of these babies.

“What are you doing in my house?” he gulped, looking terrified. It was wrong, how much I was enjoying this. “How did you get in here?” he frowned.

In his defense, he did have a very good security system, but just like so many other people, he relied too much on technology.

I looked at him calmly. Strangely, the calmer one was, the more worried one’s victim tended to be. “You do have a very good security system…” I said as I picked up the gun in my lap and turned it in my hand, studying it aimlessly. “But not good enough,” I finished.

“What do you want?”

Right now, he was most likely thinking I was here because I was crazy enough to chase him down for bailing on me.

“I have an offer. Consider it a… business proposition.” I got up from the chair smoothly, and walked towards him.

“What would that be?” he said, trying to keep his eyes on me, but every few moments, he would glance down at the gun in my hand.

“I think you should take a seat Scott.”

I really didn’t like drama; I sucked at it to be honest. I hated the class, but most of all, I hated acting. Lucky for me however, my acting skills didn’t suck, and they were about to be put to the test.

***

“Amber!” my Dad hollered from the dining room, as if on cue. Readying myself, I took the smile off my face and walked into the dining room with a sour expression.

“Have a seat,” Dad said as he nodded to the empty chair to his right, next to Troy.

“I’m not hungry,” I said as I glanced at Jax briefly. Why did he have to look so damn good in the morning?

“I didn’t ask if you were.” Dad’s voice was stern and I slowly made my way to the empty chair. I had just sat down when he started. “How could you do that to Scott?” Dad placed his fork down. “Do you know how that makes me look? You canceling on him like that?”

“I’m sorry dad,” I said as I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to look nervous. “But I just couldn’t go out with him last night; nerves got the better of me.” I saw Cole look blankly at me from across the table, in fact, I reckon all my brothers and the mutt were shocked. They probably expected me to give Cole up to our dad.

“Well… I…” Dad frowned at me. Was he expecting me to rant at him? No, I had a better plan than that; much better.

“But it actually worked out better dad,” I said as I grinned sheepishly, looking down at my plate. “We have a date tomorrow night, and he understood about last night. He’s a really nice guy.”

Dad looked pleasantly surprised. “Well, that’s excellent,” he smiled proudly at me. “He is a good guy.”

“I think so too dad,” I gushed, and got to my feet. “I’d better get going. I’m doing extra credit work before school.”

“Ok darling,” dad beamed at me.

I kept my head straight, not acknowledging anyone else at the table as I walked past.

“Amber, wait a second,” Dad stopped me. Turning around, I looked at him. Happiness had engulfed his face. “You’re really growing up, I’m proud of you. You’re showing a new side; a better side,” he said.

He was already pleased with how I did my community service work without asking him to bail me out, and well, me dating Scott now was the icing on the cake.

“Thanks dad,” I smiled a flawless smile st him. “Who knows, you might actually let the boys go back to their busy lives instead of baby-sitting me. I’ll see you after school,” I said as I waved goodbye in a carefree manner, not letting anyone see my evil smirk. I really was good at acting.

***

Lighting up a cigarette, I leaned against the back school gate. School was in full swing, and like the good student I was, I was skipping. I had just sent Scott a text making sure he understood the agreement. Well, more like reminding him of the agreement.

Which basically was to do what I said temporarily, or I’d kill him. Had I actually said I would kill him? No, I let his imagination do that for him. All I did was point out how easy it was to sneak into his house without anyone knowing, that and I was holding a gun which I made sure he was aware I knew how to use one.

“Real model student you are,” Jax barked from behind me.

“What do you want?” I snapped, looking sideways at him, as he leaned against the fence next to me.

“Just having a smoke.”

I didn’t reply. Instead, I dropped mine on the ground, put it out, and turned to leave.

“It’s not going to work you know,” Jax said smoothly, after taking a long drag on his smoke. “Making me jealous with this Scott guy.”

“Please! Scott is just a chess piece I am using.”

“So you admit you don’t care for him?” Jax turned around to look at me. Why did he have to look so damn good all the time!

“I don’t care for him.” It was the truth; I wasn’t using Scott to make Jax jealous.

“Then why are you going out of your way to be with him?” Jax looked at me slightly worried. I gulped slightly, seeing the worried look for my safety in his eyes.

“Like I said, he’s just a piece I need to win the game.” I brushed off the concern in his eyes. I couldn’t let him pull me back in.

“And what game are you trying to win Amber?” he asked as he tossed his cigarette to the ground, stomped on it, and then crossed his arms, watching me carefully. “What has you pretending to date a suit?”

“You.” I was completely honest; if he really wanted to know, I would tell him because my acting wasn’t meant to fool him; my acting was for my dad. “You don’t want me.”

“That’s not true,” Jax interrupted me, but I raised a hand for him to shut up.

“You want me on your conditions, and I can’t have a relationship with someone who is….”

“A criminal?”

“Who won’t stand up for me.” I overlooked his criminal comment. I didn’t care about that. I wanted him, but I wouldn’t have a semi-relationship with him. “It was all or nothing Jax, and you chose nothing.”

“You didn’t say that before.” He took a step closer to me. “You didn’t tell me it was all or nothing.”

“I shouldn’t have had to!” I was trying to put a wall up to hide my emotions from him. It wasn’t working. I knew he could see the sorrow in my eyes.

“So what then?” Jax pursed his lips “We’re over? You want nothing to do with me? That’s why you’re dating the suit?”

“I was pretending to date Scott, so my dad thinks that I have changed, and then he can kick my brothers and your sorry arse out, and I can go back to doing what I always did.”

“What? Petty crime?” Jax scoffed “Going to go back to Blake’s little gang and run it for him?” The bitterness in his tone was poisonous.

“Something like that.” I knew crawling back to Blake’s gang was a long shot and cowardly, but what else was I meant to do? I had no other connections.

“Have fun with that,” Jax fumed, and turned his back to me. “I was sick of you anyway.”

I knew he was saying that because I must have hurt his feelings, but still, his words hurt me.

“I love you Jax. If only you could have been a man and said it back,” I muttered to myself as I turned to leave, trying to swallow the sickening feeling in my stomach.