Shades of Deception (6 page)

It was morning when she woke again. The IV was gone, but there was a Styrofoam cup on a table by her bed. She vaguely remembered a nurse helping her take sips of juice from it earlier. Hunter was gone. Had she simply imagined him in the night?

She heard a soft click and the door to her room opened. Hunter appeared with a large vase of flowers. He put them on a side table.

“Hey, gorgeous,” he said softly. “How do you feel?”

“I love you,” Amber whispered. “When I was . . . all alone, I kept thinking that I never told you.”

“Oh, baby! I love you, too!”

Hunter leaned over and kissed her gently on the cheek. Were those tears in his eyes?

“When I found out that you were missing, I thought I was going to go insane.”

“I don't understand . . .” Amber started to say when there was a knock on the door.

She looked up to see Caleb and Megan with their faces pressed against the window.

“If you feel up to it, baby, they really want to see you,” Hunter said, squeezing her hand gently.

“They've been here since we brought you in.”

Amber nodded. “It's okay. I'd like to see them.”

Hunter gave a thumbs up and Caleb and Megan tumbled into the room. 

“Amber, are you really okay? We've been so worried.”

Megan and Caleb gave her gentle hugs.

Amber tried to sit up in the bed. “I'm a little achy. But other than that, I feel okay. I'm wondering if they would let me eat something.”

Hunter reached over and pressed a call button for the nurse.

“That should be easy enough to take care of.” 

Amber studied her friends. “I still don't understand how you guys found me.”

Hunter leaned over anxiously. “You don't have to talk about this now, baby.”

Amber gave him a wan smile. “It's okay, really. Talking about it means that I won't simply be wondering.”

Hunter looked doubtful. But he scooted his chair closer to her and took her hand.

“In that case, Caleb and Megan should start with their end of the story.”

The nurse entered and motioned everyone aside. “What can I get for you, sweetie?”

“Is it okay if I eat?” Amber said. “I'm famished.”

The nurse checked her watch.

“You're still in time to have breakfast sent up. Let me check your chart and see if the doctor placed any restrictions on what you can have.”

Caleb leaned over and whispered in her ear.

“If they don't have decent food, Megan and I will sneak you something later.”

The nurse swatted Caleb with Amber's chart.

“I heard that young man. Lucky for you, the doctor said she can have whatever she wants.”

The nurse held up a pressure cuff.

“Let me just check your vitals while I'm in here,” she said, smiling. “If the doctor clears you later this morning, you can go home this afternoon.”

Amber filled out a request for pancakes, bacon, and juice and the nurse took it on the way out.

“Okay, you two start filling me in,” she said, motioning for Caleb and Megan to pull chairs up.

“Well, I think you knew that I was picking Caleb up yesterday morning so we could hang out at the park,” Megan started.

Amber gave her friend a nod. Megan's eyes look tired from lack of sleep. Her coppery locks were pulled up in a messy ponytail and stray pieces floated around her face. Amber got the impression that none of her friends had slept while she was gone. She felt such a sense of gratitude that she had friends who cared so deeply.

“So when I came by to pick him up, I saw a canvas bag in the drive,” she said. “Seemed a little weird so I asked Caleb about it before we left.”

“I knew you always wore your sneakers to work,” Caleb jumped in. “So we figured you put them down and just forgot about them.”

“Right,” agreed Megan. “So we decided to bring them to the store for you.”

“We probably got there not more than a half hour after your shift started,” Caleb continued. “And that was when things got a little crazy.”

“One of your co-workers said that you had gone out to say goodbye to a friend but never came back,” Megan said. “Nobody knew what to think. Your boss said that you were really responsible. She couldn't imagine you simply leaving without telling anyone.”

“Hannah lied to me,” Amber whispered and Hunter put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Then a bunch of us went back out and checked the whole parking lot,” Caleb said. He paused, looking as though he didn't want to say the next part.

“We . . . um . . . We saw a purse on the ground and Megan recognized it.”

Amber felt Hunter stiffen beside her. She knew he was remembering how she told the police how John had been pointing the gun at her.

“It's okay,” she said. “It was scary as hell, but it's over now.”

Caleb let out a breath and continued. “Your supervisor called the police and I called Hunter. We searched the parking lot for the Range Rover while we waited. But of course it was gone.”

Caleb winced and Amber realized how hard that phone call must have been for him. He must have felt at least partially responsible. She suddenly knew that he needed to hear that it wasn't his fault.

“Caleb,” she said carefully. “I was really stupid about Hannah. You tried to warn me that something was going on, but I let my ego get in the way.”

“Amber, baby, don't,” Hunter tried to say.

But Amber squeezed his hand firmly. “No, let me finish,” she said softly, just to him.

Hunter didn't look happy, but he nodded.

“When Hannah sent me the text, I should have immediately been suspicious. The whole time she had been trying to borrow . . .”

Here, Amber paused for a breath and to gather her courage.

“No . . . That's wrong. She was trying to steal the car. I kept telling myself that she would never actually go through with something like that. But the truth was that Hannah probably wasn't a true friend for the last couple of years.”

“Amber, really. You don't have to explain to us,” Caleb said, his voice anxious. “Honest!”

Amber faced her friends. “But I have to explain to myself. I had a lot of time to think yesterday. This is something I need to say out loud for my own sake.”

Megan reached over and patted her hand. “Say whatever you need to. Just know that you don't have to.”

Amber smiled ruefully. “That's why it feels important for me.”

She turned and gave Hunter a quick peck on his cheek. “For us.”

Amber saw that Hunter was trying to keep himself from objecting so she quickly continued.

“Even when I saw that there was not another car around that she could have driven, I ignored my instinct. I wanted so hard to believe that she hadn't changed, that she wasn't out to use me. But that was a lie. Even in high school, she used me. I was always her alibi when she went to parties. I would be sitting in the library and she would be getting wasted. Then I came home and lied to the very people who had given me nothing but love.”

Amber sniffled.

“Okay, Amber, this is enough,” Hunter warned, his voice a growl. “You've been through hell and you don't need to do this to yourself. This was not your fault!”

Amber squeezed back her tears. She turned and put a finger on his lips. “I'm just telling you and Caleb and Megan and myself that Wimpy Amber is gone now. I'll never let someone treat me like that again.”

“Nobody is ever going to hurt you again, Amber,” Hunter said, his green eyes smoldering.

“Not on our watch,” Caleb said grimly.

Megan put up a hand and winked at Amber.

“I think Amber gets the point, guys,” she said. “How about we lower the rage-induced testosterone levels in the room a bit?"

Amber giggled as Hunter gaped at her.

“Hunter, I don't know how well you know Megan. But you should know she isn't the meek little girl she pretends to be.”

Megan laughed. “Hey, don't give away all my secrets!”

Hunter and Caleb visibly relaxed and Amber was glad that Megan had come.

“So how did you track the Range Rover?” she asked.

“Oh, that was easy,” Caleb said. “Hunter installed a tracking device on it when he first got it.”

“What? It saves on insurance,” Hunter said, when Amber looked at him incredulously.

“So the police caught up with the mother  fu . . . um . . . the bad people . . . and were able to arrest them,” Caleb continued.

“So they told you where I was?” Amber asked, still not understanding.

Had the police taken all day to find the car?

“No,” Hunter said, tightly. “The guy you called John must have scared the shit out of your so-called friend because she wouldn't talk.”

“But then how did you find me?” Amber asked, suddenly aware that there was something nobody wanted to tell her.

“You know, I think that Hunter and Megan need some alone time,” Megan said suddenly.

She stood up and leaned over to give Amber another hug.

“We'll come by and see you at home if you're up to it later.”

Amber watched as Caleb sent Hunter an apologetic look.

Megan snapped her fingers. “Let's go, Caleb.”

Caleb blushed as he hugged Amber. But he looked happy as he followed Megan out the door.

Hunter gaped as the two left the room.

“Did Caleb just allow her to order him around?” he asked, sounding shocked.

Amber grinned. “He's like a little puppy trying to please her,” she said. “I'll tell you about their first meeting later.”

“Sound's interesting.”

Hunter stared at her with those hypnotic green eyes. He looked nervous.

Amber folded her arms across her chest. She narrowed her eyes at Hunter.

“I think that you have something you want to tell me,” she said, her voice firm.

Hunter cleared his throat.

“Maybe you should get a little rest first,” he said, clearly trying to stall.

Amber sighed. “I know it was rough on you. But I need to know the rest of the story. Everything. Then I can put it behind me. Behind us.”

Hunter groaned and ran his hands through his hair.

“I hope you understand that everything I've ever done was to help you.”

Amber stared at him.

“Why don't you just start at the beginning from Caleb's phone call,” she suggested.

Hunter swallowed and stared at his hands.

“Okay, I was with a client when my phone buzzed. I looked down, hoping it was you with one of your silly messages. It was Caleb.”

Hunter sighed. “Caleb doesn't text me a lot. And certainly not when he knows I'm working. So I was worried from the very beginning. I excused myself and let Isabelle know that there was an emergency.”

He grimaced. “Of course I had no idea how bad of an emergency. I called Caleb and he filled me in. And then my parents arranged for the company's private jet to fly me here immediately.”

Amber studied him. He was still holding something back. What was he so afraid to tell her?

"I thought that the police would be able to track the Range Rover fairly easily. I had no idea that you wouldn't be with it. But once I got back and they found the cell phone in the woods, I knew that I could help find you,” he said carefully, avoiding her eyes.

“Um . . . Are you part bloodhound or something?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Hunter sighed again. “Promise me you won't start yelling when I tell you? Please? I want you to be able to go home. If they come in here and your blood pressure is off the charts, they might say no.”

“Tell me, Hunter.”

“Promise me, first.”

“I can't promise you I won't be angry because you clearly think you've done something that would make me angry,” she said slowly. “But because I am anxious to get out of here, I promise that I won't yell.”

She considered him for a moment. “At least until we get home.”

“Fair enough,” he said, swallowing hard. “On the bright side, what I did helped us find you rather quickly,” he reminded her.

“Hunter,” Amber said through clenched teeth. “Just tell me what you did!”

“I . . . um . . . I sort of chipped you.”

“Chipped me? What the hell does that even mean?”

“Well, not you, exactly, but your bracelet. I . . . um . . . Your bracelet has a tracking device on it. That was how we found you.”

Amber's mouth fell open.

Hunter leaned forward anxiously.

“Baby, without that I don't know when we would have found you. I would have turned the whole state upside down looking for you. But it was so damn cold last night and even then I was afraid . . .”

Amber was staring down at her bracelet. Her beautiful, sparking bracelet was a tracking device? What the hell? Was he ever going to tell her? Was this a matter of trust?

She started to speak and then simply shut her mouth.

Hunter was looking at her with such anxiety. His green eyes were stormy. Her demented control freak. She thought for a moment what it must have been like for him, stuck in Paris while she had simply disappeared. What would have gone through his head? Anyone would have panicked. But for a control freak, the stress was probably even more intense.

She also had to admit that she was alive right now, probably thanks to him being a control freak. Demented or not, she had survived thanks to him. Hunter was right. She wasn't sure how long she could have survived in that freezing cold shed. It could have taken days or even weeks to locate her.

“Why?” she asked suddenly.

Hunter was staring at her, biting his lip nervously.

“Why what?” he asked, clearly surprised.

“Why did you put it on the bracelet? What were you thinking when you did it?”

Hunter's eyes got misty. “I was thinking that I couldn't live with myself if you got one of your fainting spells one day and passed out somewhere.”

He rubbed his eyes. “When I saw you that day, passed out naked in the bathtub, I was so damned scared. I worry about you so much.”

He held up a hand. “I know I can be controlling. I'm working on that. But I've wanted to protect you since the first time you collapsed at my feet in front of the art building.”

Amber swallowed, seeing him raw with emotion for the first time.

“Hunter, you didn't fail me when you went to Paris,” she said, suddenly realizing what he must be thinking.

“This wouldn't have happened,” he said, starting to cry.

“Hunter Webb, you stop this bullshit right now,” she said firmly, lifting his face. “Yes, you are a control freak. And we probably need to figure out why that is.”

She smiled. “But you are also the nicest control freak I've ever met in my life. I've never had anyone care about me so much and think about every little thing I could possibly need.”

She scooted over in the bed. “Now, I know I probably stink to high heaven but come here. Let me hold you.”

Hunter did as she asked, snuggling against her. Then something inside him snapped and he sobbed against her.

Amber had been so caught up in her own insecurities that she had never considered that Hunter might have his own issues. She had assumed that Hunter's control freak nature was just some weird idiosyncrasy. But now she wondered if there was something hidden in his past as well. Did Hunter have his own scars? Or was she simply being paranoid?

What didn't she know about this guy in her life who was impossibly good? And did she even want to know? Things between them felt so good and so right.

Hunter sat up and wiped his face, looking sheepish.

“You must think I'm just a big baby,” he said, reaching over to grab tissues from a box on her bedside table. 

“It's okay for big boys to cry,” Amber protested.

“I'll just go and wash my face,” Hunter said, clearly embarrassed.

Amber listened to him blow his nose loudly in the adjoining bathroom. Then she remembered what she must look like. Hmm . . . What did she look like right now?

She carefully scooted to the edge of the bed and swung her legs off. No dizziness. That was a good sign. She slid off the bed, her feet hitting the cold tile floor. Then she knocked softly on the door of the bathroom.

Hunter opened up right away. He must have stuck his whole head in the sink because even his hair was dripping.

“Hey, should you be up yet? Shouldn't we ask the nurse first?”

Amber took one horrified look in the mirror. Her hair was matted and streaked with potting soil. Dried flecks of blood crusted the small gash on her forehead. A big purple bruise covered most of her right shoulder. Her skin was smeared with dirt. She sniffed at her body and made a face. Ugh!

“Nope, I'm getting in the shower right now before anyone can stop me.”

Amber turned the shower on and slipped out of her hospital gown.

“At least sit on the shower stool,” Hunter said, sounding alarmed. “And just a quick rinse. You can bathe when we get home.”

Amber ignored him and pumped out a thick gob of soap from the dispenser. The warm water felt heavenly on her skin. Still, she didn't want the nurse to get upset. She lathered her hair and body once, watching in disgust as black rivers of dirt ran down the drain. She rinsed quickly and was already drying off when a nurse knocked on the door.

“Are you okay in there? You should have pushed the call button if you needed to go.”

“I'm fine,” Amber said in a strong, loud voice. “My boyfriend is making sure I don't fall or anything.”

Hunter grinned and pinched her lightly on the butt.

Amber slapped his hand away.

“Okay, sweetie, I'll just leave your breakfast on your tray then. Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thanks!” Amber called out.

Amber didn't want to put on the soiled gown again so she sent Hunter to look for another in the room. He came back a minute later with a huge one.

“Sorry. This was all that was in the drawer. I'll have to go ask for another when I look for a comb.”

“Better than nothing I suppose,” Amber sighed, wrapping the gown around her several times. She looked ridiculous, but at least she felt clean.

By the time Amber finished her pancakes and bacon, Hunter had returned with a smaller gown and a comb.

“I sent Caleb a text and Megan is going to grab some clean clothes for you to wear home.”

Amber suddenly looked up in alarm. “My boots! Were they able to save those?”

Hunter looked pained.

“Are you sure? I can get you a pair that doesn't remind you of what happened.”

Amber was in the middle of removing a particular difficult tangle from her hair. But she shook her head firmly.

“Those boots helped save me,” she said. “Unless they're ripped or stained beyond repair, I want to keep them.”

Hunter sighed, looking doubtful. “Are you sure that's wise?”

Amber narrowed her eyes at him.

“I can't just pretend that this never happened, Hunter. I don't plan on dwelling on it, but I need to be able to feel strong about myself.”

She paused, searching for words that would make sense.

“I like to think that it was my own strength and focus that got me through until you found me. And those boots . . . Well, I know it sounds crazy, but those boots gave me hope.”

Hunter nodded slowly.

“You were amazing, baby. I didn't want to upset you by talking about it.”

“I'm not a psychologist, but I know that talking about stuff always makes it a little easier,” Amber said.

She studied Hunter for a minute.

“When I was younger, I used to just squash all my anger against my mom inside me. It was like I was walking around with this huge black pit inside me. But I had this awesome teacher in middle school who really helped me. She got me to open up and just talk about stuff off the record.”

Hunter came over and held her. “I'm sorry, Amber. I'll do whatever you want to do. It's hard for me to talk about because I was so damn scared. I just want to focus on now.”

Amber stroked his face.

“Trust me, Hunter. If you try to push everything away, it will just pop up somewhere later. Either in your dreams or in your . . .”

Amber broke off. She was going to say in your behavior. Hmm . . . Now she really wanted to know if there was something in Hunter's past.

“Okay. Okay. I can accept that you need to talk about it. But not this minute, okay?” he pleaded.

Amber grinned mischievously. “Okay, How about I postpone the conversation in return for my boots?”

Hunter frowned. “This isn't a funny topic, Amber.”

Amber stuck her tongue out at him. “You deal with your fright your way. I'll deal with mine how I want to.”

She looked him in the eye.

“Seriously, Hunter, I learned a long time ago that humor was a great coping technique. That's how I've managed so much craziness this far in life.”

Hunter heaved a sigh of resignation. He was quiet for a moment and then he grinned slyly.

“Fine. But I'm going to come up with my own coping mechanism.”

Amber stared at him curiously. “So you plan to cope how?”

Hunter traced her lips with his finger. Then he let that same finger slide down the front of her hospital gown.

“I think I have some ideas for how to make myself feel better,” he whispered.

Amber felt herself flush.

“Is that a fact?” she said, smirking. “And what exactly do you have in mind?”

Hunter stood up and folded his arms across his chest. His eyes hypnotized her.

“Oh, you'll see once the doctor clears you for . . . um . . . all activities.”

As Hunter stared at her, clear longing in his eyes, she realized that she did need to feel him crushed against her body. Those eyes radiated so much heat and passion. Damn! If she wasn't in a hospital bed at the moment, she thought she might try to jump his bones right then and there. How did he do this to her?

“Is that a promise?” she asked, her voice breathless.

“Baby, that's a guarantee!”

Hunter bent to kiss her and she was responding to his lips on hers when she heard a persistent knock on the door. Hunter jerked upright and turned.

“Well, Miss Holloway, I'm certainly glad to see that you are feeling refreshed enough to . . . ah . . . engage in some pleasantries,” said the doctor who was now standing in the room, a wry smile on her face.

Amber felt herself blushing.

“I was just checking her vitals,” Hunter said with a straight face, his eyes twinkling. “I know how busy you doctors are.”

The doctor winked. “Hmm . . . I think Miss Holloway is certainly past needing mouth to mouth resuscitation. But it's good to know that you're on top of things. I take it you'll be responsible for taking care of our patient once I release her?”

“Yes, ma'am,” Hunter said, his face serious now. “Just tell me what I should do.”

The doctor checked over Amber's bruises and shone a light in her eyes.

“You're a strong, smart girl. Wrapping that plastic around you kept you from getting hypothermia. You kept your head and did what you needed to do to stay warm.”

The doctor checked her pulse. “Any dizziness today? Blurred vision? Headache?”

Amber shook her head to each question.

“Then I think that you are all set to go home. If anything changes, let us know.” She smiled and slanted her eyes at Hunter.

“You might want to take it easy the next couple of days if you're still sore. But I'm not giving you any restrictions.”

Behind the doctor, Hunter pumped his fist in the air and Amber had to suppress a giggle.

The doctor leaned forward and winked.

“He's celebrating behind me isn't he?” she whispered.

Amber laughed out loud then and the doctor turned to Hunter with a smile.

“Remember to call with any questions. But I'll make sure that the nurse has Miss Holloway's discharge papers.”