30 March 2012

Amber's Advocate

Chapter Five

Stirrings

He was woken by the repetitive noise from the cell next door, every day he spent here he grew with his anger but they didn't know, because he chose to conceal it.  He was supreme in keeping his anger locked up elsewhere, away from educated know-it-alls who'd asked him plenty of questions about his past, his mother, his father and why he was the way he was but he fooled and schooled them all.  He exuded a quiet confidence and he tricked them with his foolery.  That little bitch was going to pay and when he found her, he would do more then just make her bleed... he was going to make her pay for shutting him in.  Of course, he had to devise a plan and with plans they needed time and management.  He could wait, he'd been here coming to three months and each day was the same; the same routine, the same miserable faces but faces he knew, were hungry... hungry for revenge and in that respect, he knew he wasn't alone. 


*

Amber clutched the mug for dear life, as if it were her safety net, her barrier against the man sitting in front of her.  They'd been sitting here for half an hour and she had expected it to be unpleasant but it was the complete opposite.  She had to admit to herself that he was a beautiful specimen of a man- but she told herself she wasn't ready to go down that road, not now and not in the foreseeable future.  He had been doing most of the talking and she knew he'd done it to make her feel comfortable that there wasn't pressure for her to speak but of course, she always felt pressure.  She felt pressure every waking day, for once she just wanted to forget.

"Hey!  Enough about me... tell me something about yourself?" he asked, his hazel eyes taking on a darker hue as they probed hers gently. 

"I'm not all that exciting."  Yes, keep your sentences to a minimum- don't let him get too close. 

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that," he smiled.

Silence. 

"Okay, if you don't want to talk about yourself right now, how about you tell me how you know Millie?"  Cade asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"She's my friend," Amber replied.

"Yes, I know that... but how did you two meet?"  Cade asked.

"We have mutual friends," Amber replied, she looked out the window. 

"Are you trying to be evasive on purpose?"  Cade quipped, there was 'mysterious' and then there was down right 'secretive' and Amber was both and then some.  There was also a look of vulnerability about her too but he wasn't going to pry and he wasn't going to beg.  So, he fell into silence, appreciating the quietness.  They had been sitting there for ten minutes before she spoke. 

"I better go,"  she got up. 

"Let me walk you,"  Cade said, putting some change on the table and following her as she made her way out. 


Amber wrapped her cardigan closer to herself, feeling the slight chill.  It was warm but she always felt the cold no matter where she was.  Suddenly she felt something settle on her shoulders and she flinched.

"I thought you might be cold," Cade whispered, as he walked with her.

"I am... thanks," Amber replied, tugging the material closer.  She walked the remainder of the way home in silence with him walking beside her.  Strange, but she felt safer when he was around but she didn't want to depend on him, especially as this was the first time she'd properly spoken to him, who knows what kind of person he could be and what secrets he could be carrying.  It brought her back to when she first met Rick.  He'd been rowdy with a couple of his friends at a bar in Tribeca, New York and Rick had hitted on anything that could justify a skirt.  She had entered the bar with Millie at the time, brought her to one of her favourite haunts- only to have a bunch of rowdy men acting like pubescent teenagers.  Amber had gotten right up in Rick's face and demolished him with her feistiness.  Somehow he took thrill out of being told what do by a woman and charmed the socks off her and lest be known, he'd persuaded her to go on a date with her. 

The sound of Cade's voice broke her out of her reverie, if you could call it that.  Most days when she revisited the past, she did it with a heavy heart.  She couldn't seem to surpass it.  Millie had said it would take time, so did her therapist. 

"Sorry, what did you say?"  Amber asked.  She saw his lips moving but she didn't catch what he'd said the first time.

"You stopped, I presumed this is where you lived," Cade said looking at the Town House, "Nice building though."

Amber was about to reply when someones voice cut through the conversation.

"Hey Amber!"

Amber looked straight ahead and saw Sam stepping out of a big black SUV, "Hi Sam!"  The petite yet curvaceous woman walked towards them.  She was dressed casually in jeans and trainers and wore a T-shirt, "Where've you come from?"

"Oh, just returned from a weekend with the girls, who's...?" Sam looked up at the man standing beside Amber.

"Oh sorry, Sam this is Cade... a friend... Cade this is Sam, our next door neighbour,"  Amber said.

They both shook hands and Sam said goodnight and disappeared up the steps. 

Cade turned back towards Amber and stood there quietly.

Amber shrugged and peeled off his jacket, "Thank you for this."

"No problem," Cade smiled.

"Thanks for the company, I'll see you around. Good night,"  and Amber disappeared up the stairs. 

Cade waited until she was inside before he walked home- a sudden spring in his step.