Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

Amber

A mber fidgeted with the handle of her cocoa mug and glanced again at the clock on the wall. 5:35. Her lips tightened. It wasn’t like Reuben to be late. Was he not coming? The author sipped the last of her cocoa and pushed away the cup, which Marissa whisked away moments later.

“Would you like anything else while you wait, pudding?” Marissa gave Amber a genuine smile and tilted her head, an auburn curl falling from her shoulder. The author shook her head and she nodded. “Alright. I’ll be around if you change your mind! A little odd for that boyfriend of yours to be late, isn’t it?”

Amber nodded, chewing on the inside of her cheek nervously. “Yeah. Super odd. Hopefully everything is okay.”

Marissa agreed and moved along to the only other occupied table in the cafe, leaving Amber to wallow in the sea of ‘what ifs’ which whipped up to massive waves that stole her breath with every new crash. She scooted back on her red-upholstered chair and folded her arms on the table, then placed her chin on top while staring out the window.

The sun hadn’t reached the horizon yet, but overzealous street lights were flickering to life while shift workers hurried by on their way home. Amber watched these droop-shouldered and solemn-faced men and women speed walk right past the little cafe without giving it a single glance. They were so engrossed in their own lives that more than once someone would bump into another passerby going in the other direction, jolting both away from their public solitude for a brief moment.

Were she and Reuben the same? Just two people knocked out of their isolation for only a fleeting instant?

Then the bell above the door tinkled and in walked the missing vampire. His eyes were wide and wild, though his posture and hair maintained their usual level of poise. Marissa nodded pleasantly to Reuben as he passed the counter and sat down across from Amber, a million excuses clinging to his lips.

“The usual, please,” Reuben requested in the barista’s direction, turning back to his date as soon as she acknowledged him. “Amber, I am so sorry! It’s out of my character to be late, but with all the mess from yesterday, I didn’t want to give away our secret spot. I parked my car about a mile away and misjudged how long it would take to sneak here without using my speed.”

Amber glanced down at her hands, the corners of her lips twitching as if arguing whether to go up or down. Down won and when the author finally made eye contact with the vampire, dejection dampened her aura.

Reuben curled his toes and reached out to take Amber’s hands, but she pulled them out of reach. “Amber, I really am sorry that I’m late. I wanted to keep the paparazzi and protestors off our trail.”

A visible flinch followed the word ‘paparazzi,’ and Amber collapsed in on herself a little before speaking. “I’m not upset that you were late,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “I’m freaked out about the comments calling for me to be doxxed or worse, and the fact that you had to go to such lengths to ditch the press. And I’m upset that you brushed that all off so easily.” She peeked up through her eyebrows with haunted eyes.

“I didn’t mean to,” Reuben sighed, melting into his own chair and unbuttoning his jacket. “I guess I’m so used to dodging them that it’s second nature to me. But if it makes you feel better, nobody has posted your name anywhere so far. And the public has such a short attention span, I bet they’ll have moved on to the next thing by Friday.” Reuben again reached out to cup Amber’s cheek.

This time she didn’t move; she allowed the porcelain fingers to caress her face. But before Amber could formulate a reply or assess how she was feeling, her phone began ringing loudly. She kept her ringtone loud due to the small number of calls she received and smaller amount of time she spent in public, so hearing it blasting through the cafe caused her to scramble.

She nearly dropped the phone in her haste to stop the sound, but managed to catch and silence it. The screen displayed Jade’s name, which did nothing to lower her anxiety. “I’m sorry, it’s my sister. She rarely calls, so I better take this.” Without further explanation, Amber scooted out the front door of the cafe and leaned against the wall. “Hello?”

“Hey Amby, where are you? I stopped by your apartment to drop off some stuff that mom pulled out of a closet and decided you needed, but I guess you’re not home.”

Relief crept in to take the place of the anxiety. “Oh, that’s all? I was worried you were calling to tell me Dad is in the hospital again or something. I’m over at the coffee shop.”

“The usual one?”

“Yeah, the regular one. I’ll be a little while. Do you want to leave the stuff on the doorstep?”

“Do you WANT it to get stolen? I know how sketchy that apartment building of yours is. I’ll use my spare key to go inside and put it on the table.”

“What is it? I might not even want it. We both know how Mom is...she can’t throw anything away. If it’s something stupid again like my homework from first grade or a rock I picked up in middle school, put it in the dumpster.” She rubbed her eyes in some attempt to relax the irritation which had settled into her bones.

A glance through the coffee shop window showed that the barista was headed toward her table with Reuben’s drink and another cocoa she figured he’d ordered for her, so she groaned. “Otherwise, fine, leave it on the table. I have to go. Reuben and I need to finish our conversation.”

“WHO IS REUBEN?”

Jade’s voice and question were cut off abruptly as Amber realized she’d slipped. She hung up as fast as possible and jammed her phone into her pocket, ignoring the further buzzes of multiple text messages. It was only a few steps to the table where a new cup of cocoa steamed, a heavenly combination of mint and almond drifting toward her.

Amber slid back into her chair and gave Reuben an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. I thought maybe something had gone wrong with Dad, but it was my sister telling me she was at my apartment to drop some stuff off.” She picked up her cup and sniffed, eyes half closing from exhaustion.

“Oh no. Don’t worry about it. Glad it wasn’t anything too serious. I thought I’d buy you another cocoa, since I was late and you already finished yours.” Reuben fidgeted with his spoon and said, “So about the press thing. It will be alright, I promise. This wasn’t as controlled as I would have hoped, but so far everything I’ve seen has been positive. Even the ones who are wondering who you are. PR has been hard at work keeping things under control, too.”

Amber stirred her cup moodily, eyes still dark. She felt that she had two options: spiral into a panic and never leave her apartment again, or allow herself to trust that Reuben would keep his word and keep her safe. As she stared at the handsome man across the table, the fear melted away a little and the second option felt a little more possible.

Despite the serious nature of their conversation, the buzzing of Amber’s phone was incredibly distracting to both parties. “You sure that’s not important? Usually just dropping something off doesn’t take that many messages,” Reuben murmured, pointing to Amber’s pocket. “I don’t mind if you need to take a call. I understand.”

“Oh, everything is fine. I was worried about Dad for a second. He’s old and sometimes ends up in the hospital for minor things, but not this time. Really don’t worry about it!”

Reuben didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t try to fight Amber any harder on the topic. “If you’re sure. We really need to talk about your comment section problem. You keep telling me that you can handle it, but all of the stress you’ve been feeling comes from those faceless posts. If you’d just ignore them, you would be so much happier.”

The ember of anger that Amber had been cradling immediately burst back into full flame. “You and your harping on my social media usage! Who do you think you are, my father? It’s really none of your business what I choose to spend my time doing! Especially when I’m just covering my back and making sure I’m not blindsided by crazy people on the internet finding my address!”

“None of my business?!” Reuben spat, his hand curling into a fist. “After I’ve spent the last 24 hours making sure you had nothing to worry about, you tell me it’s none of my business? I’ve told you over and over that I will make sure nobody gets your information because of our arrangement, but obviously you don’t trust me! Why are you so paranoid, anyway?!”

Before Amber could reply, their conversation was cut short by the sound of the front door flying open and Amber’s name being screeched through the coffee shop. All four people inside swiveled their heads to stare at the short, brown-haired and brown-eyed woman who had emitted the terrible sound. She stormed over to Amber and immediately punched her in the shoulder, her face full of unbridled irritation.

“Amber Jane Marcus!!” she shrieked again, “how dare you hang up on me and then COMPLETELY IGNORE MY TEXTS? You can’t just mention A MAN cryptically and not explain yourself!”

Jade took a deep breath and looked at Reuben, an entirely different voice coming from her. “Hello, I’m Jade. You must be the other half of ‘our’!”

Reuben’s eyes shot to the noise and followed the young lady screaming Amber’s full name. He didn’t move to protect Amber, even when she got punched. “Yes, my apologies if I am keeping her from you,” he said instead, standing from his chair to bow politely.

“This is Reuben. He’s helping me with my next book.” Amber rubbed her sore arm and pouted at her older sister, who was sliding herself into the bench next to her. "How did you get here so fast, anyway?"

Jade rested her elbows on the table and her chin on her hands, looking Reuben up and down with bright eyes. "Luck, really. I was on the way back to your place when I called, and only two blocks away from here," she replied, not even glancing at her sister.

Don’t you dare start interrogating him, you little pest, Amber thought, feeling a small amount of panic beginning to fill her gut. There was no way she would have let Jade meet Reuben this early.

Jade paid little attention to Amber’s obvious discomfort. She was instead showing deep interest in Reuben. He, in turn, made sure to sit up straight and stare right back at her. “Reuben, is it? Nice to meet you. So are you secretly a romance author as well? It took a long time for me to convince Amby to publish-”

She was cut short by Amber smacking her and shaking her head with wide eyes. Jade raised one eyebrow and sighed at her sister, somehow understanding what she wasn’t saying. “Ah. You haven’t given your friend here your pen name, have you? Good grief, Amby. You’ve got to get over that at some point. Let people know how amazing you are! And stop going out in public in your pajamas, yeah? Take a leaf from your friend’s book. He seems to know how to dress himself.” She turned her head back to Reuben and shot him a beaming smile, which looked a whole lot like her sister’s.

“Thank you for the compliment, but Amber doesn’t need to dress up to look pretty,” Reuben replied with a frown and Jade shrugged, the pair again locked in a staring contest as if they were each trying to read the other’s mind.

Amber didn’t notice. She was at war with herself. As much as she wanted to continue her fight with Reuben, she also wanted to get Jade away from her boyfriend as fast as possible. This was too much too fast, and she could feel her blood pressure rising with each passing moment.

“Well Reuben, I shouldn’t keep you too much longer," Amber said, a bit too loudly. "I know you need to get home and I need to get back to writing. We are going to have to have a discussion about the whole arrangement when things have calmed down. At this point, I’m not sure this is going to work the way we hoped. And Jade…stop calling me Amby already!”

Reuben took Amber’s cue and sipped the last of his tea out of his cup. “Oh yes. I have things to do this evening. Don’t stress yourself too much,” he said as he reached out and gently rubbed Amber’s shoulder where she was smacked by her sister. “I’ll be sure to text you later.”

Jade watched Reuben’s actions curiously, her bright eyes not missing as much as a frame of his movement. Amber inwardly groaned, but leaned into the vampire’s touch, somehow sensing that he was less than pleased with the situation as well.

Reuben pulled his hand back. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Jade. I hope you have a great rest of the day.” With no more ado, he smoothly exited the cafe and entered his car.

“Nice to meet you too, Reuben,” Jade called after him with a grin. She watched as he left the cafe and, as soon as the door closed, rounded on Amber. “Ambyyyy, he’s not just helping you with your book, is he?” Amber could feel the excitement dripping from her sister’s frame and threatening to drown her in its waters.

Amber grabbed Jade by the arm and dragged her to the counter where Amber paid for her drinks with haste. Every attempt by Jade to open her mouth was met with daggers, which kept her quiet until the siblings were outside and walking down the busy street.

“Amber! That man...he’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?”

How her sister had jumped to that conclusion was partially a mystery, and partially a relief. Surely that meant they were doing a good job at their ruse?

But what version should she tell Jade? Her brain tore itself apart for a moment as the two sides warred with each other. If she told her they were really dating, then she would have to explain everything when they ‘broke up.’

But if she told Jade the real arrangement, would she judge her sister harshly? She felt ridiculous as she ran various presentations of the plan through her head. Neither was particularly good, but the eyes burning holes in the side of her head told her she didn’t have much longer to consider. “Well, kind of. We’ve only known each other for a few weeks, since Gabriella sent me to that speed dating thing I told you about.”

“I knew it, I knew it!” Jade sang, dancing in a small circle before continuing to follow Amber down the street to Jade’s car. “Didn’t realize you’d go for a guy who looks like a CEO, but no judgment. Mom and Dad will be happy that you’re willing to date anyone. Eeee! And he’s so cute too!! How did someone like you end up with someone like him?”

Amber sighed and did her best not to roll her eyes. “I guess we bonded over mutually thinking the event was nonsense? And he agreed to help me with ideas for my next book, so. It has worked out so far, I guess.” The starry-eyed Jade appeared content with this answer and had no further questions to ask as the pair approached Amber’s apartment building.

“Is it more than one armload?” Amber asked, craning her neck to locate the items her mother had sent over. From the front seat she could see various book covers, statuettes, and collectibles peeking out of their cardboard prisons. “Did Mom decide to take everything out of my bedroom or something?” she grumbled, and received a nod in response.

Amber tossed her head back and pulled her keys out of her pocket, already beginning to wonder where she was going to stash all this stuff. “I don’t have room for all this crap...”

“You could always get out of your dank and dusty low-income apartment and get something decent with more square footage. I know that you make a ton of money on book sales. There’s no way you can’t afford something better than this! Unless you’re good at hiding a massively expensive drug habit that none of us have managed to catch onto yet.” Jade’s bright eyes settled teasingly on her little sister, who chuckled and shook her head.

“I’m not doing drugs, but I like this apartment. I’ve lived here a long time and it’s comfortable. And moving sucks. And so does getting used to new surroundings.”

The girls loaded up with boxes, barely getting everything inside in one trip. Jade set hers on the table, flopped onto Amber’s couch, and shook her head. “You are so rigid. I only hope that this cute, well-dressed, and seemingly put-together boyfriend of yours can set you straight on a few things. Go out on a limb once in a while! Without having to be dragged there by someone else.”

Her eyes flickered meaningfully at the original draft of Under Caribbean Skies which lay on the small table next to the couch where it had been for literal years at this point. “You might find that you like new surroundings. Anyway, I’ve got to go. Jeremy and I have to attend Todd’s recital this afternoon. You are coming to his birthday party on the fifteenth, right? You can’t let your nephew down. You’re his favorite aunt, you know.”

“I’m his only aunt,” Amber replied cheekily, but accepted Jade’s hug as she turned to head out the door.

“Doesn’t matter, you’re still the favorite. 6pm, my house. And bring Reuben, eh? I’m sure the family would love to meet him.” She disappeared out the door and Amber was left with a sinking feeling in her gut. She’d forgotten about the celebration of her oldest nephew’s eighth birthday, and she didn’t particularly feel like introducing Reuben to the family right now.

Heck, she hardly felt like even talking to him.

* * *

Reuben

W ow. That was uncomfortable. Reuben massaged the grimace from his face as he considered how uncanny the resemblance was between Amber and her sister. Despite the bickering, she didn’t seem to be a terrible person; yes, she came across as a little overprotective and maybe too excited, but seemed like a normal sister. As soon as he got home, he pulled out his phone and sent Amber a quick text.

Reuben

Don’t let her be too hard on you. I think you look striking in your comfortable clothes. Have a great day, babe.

Okay, maybe he only added ‘babe’ because Amber had said he was only helping with her book. Reuben had felt an arrow pierce his chest at the introduction. He couldn’t help but feel they were a little more than ‘helping with my book.’ He understood not coming out to her family about their arrangement; contractual relationships weren’t something to brag about. But she couldn’t have gone with ‘friend?’

He might also have added it because it almost sounded like he was being dumped.