Broken Obsession - Part Two (22 page)

Eduardo followed her as she walked back to her car.
She was wearing a baseball cap on her head with her ponytail pulled
through its snap, that’s why he wasn’t able to recognize her
before. But he knew, deep down inside he knew his ex-wife was
somewhere in the courtroom.

“Don’t follow me,” Amber turned around halting him
with her hand.

“Why’d you come here then? What’s wrong now?”

Thoughts of Stacey and him kissing swarmed her brain
again. The way he held the back of her head, the way she pressed
her body into his—they were in love—it was way too late. “I just
wanted to see you action. I wanted to tell you
something
—but
you continue to break my heart.” Amber subsequently turned around
and ran this time; dashed faster than she ever could or thought
possible. She barely reached her car when she felt her body being
swung around and her shoulders being tightly clutched within his
strong tight grip.

“Break your heart? We’re divorced, you and I—we’ve
moved on.”

“Have we?”

Eduardo’s mouth suddenly went very dry. “I can’t do
this anymore...this—these dramas—that you bring on suddenly, you’re
impossible.”

Amber’s tears halted. Oh how she loved this man! Her
feelings were just dormant and clouded over by their son’s death.
They were still there, still
here
. She’s been in love with
this man since the day she spotted him walking across the lawn at
her in-law’s backyard. Why doesn’t he realize it? Why does he
believe that she’s impossible? Their love was never impossible, in
fact, it was simple...easy. “You said you would always want me,”
Amber declared, not caring if it looked hopeless.

“That hasn’t changed; I will always care for you,” he
admitted gingerly, “But what took me months to realize and what I
don’t
want
is that mania in my life. That constant urge to
be near you, inside you, no one should be that desperate Amber. I
don’t like feeling out of control…And you drove me out of it.”

He was shaking her now. Amber was already nervous;
there was no need to shake her! “So it’s really over—my God—we
really did it.”

“Did what?”

“Find ourselves happy with other people.”

Eduardo shut his eyes. No other woman could pull his
heartstrings like Amber could. He suddenly found himself with an
uncoiling stomach, “Yes...I’m happy.”

Amber gazed at his uncertain facial expression, “How
come I don’t believe you? God, you’re such an incredible liar! I
could always tell when you’re lying, and you’re lying right
now.”

Eduardo stuck out his chest and released her
shoulders. “I’m not being dishonest,” he disclosed, “I’m truly
happy where I am. I’m content, relaxed for once. I actually come
home from a hard day’s work and feel—”

“Happy?” Amber exclaimed, finishing his sentence for
him.

Eduardo closed his mouth; her condensation was too
much to bear. She threw his heart off balance. He stared down at
her in that silly baseball cap. Visions of a small face echoed
through his brain. Peyton...Peyton looked like his mommy.

“Show me how happy you are,” Amber demanded, meeting
his eyes staring through her disguise. “Tell me to go away, command
to never want to see me again.” Amber looked deep into his
eyes...and there it was, passion, hot enough to burn and the
lightness in his green eyes, verdant and ready to devour. After
that Amber allowed herself to breathe and permitted herself to feel
him; inside his expensive tailored suit, up and around his shirt,
his muscular chest, encompassing his tie, wrapping her arms around
his back and pulling his body near...closer to hers to mesh against
her skin. And this is when she felt his arms embrace her in return.
Good Lord
, her heart was about to burst wide open; she never
felt anything so soothing.

Amber shouldn’t have done that...touch him as easily
as she did and Eduardo shouldn’t have allowed her to do so, but
Good God
, his body called out for the contact and raw
passion and familiarity engulfed Eduardo and his instinct told him
that he should be kissing her along with this pleasurable
interaction when he leaned into her face and watched her incline to
meet him, when—

“Uh-
hello
,” Stacey stated in disbelief, “Am I
interrupting something?”

Amber pivoted around and gazed at Stacey glaring at
the two of them embracing. Amber let go of his grasp and withdrew,
but Eduardo didn’t allow her to venture off very far; his hand
still remained on the small of her back, rubbing her ever so softly
with his thumb.

“No—I, I was just congratulating him,” Amber managed
to conceal, extending out her hand and walking away from Eduardo’s
contact. “We’ve never formerly met, I’m Amber Sanchez...um,
Eduardo’s ex-wife.”

Stacey shook Amber’s hand, but quickly discharged it.
“Nice to finally meet you Amber,” she quipped, twirling her
engagement ring around on her finger on purpose.

Amber took a quick glimpse at the rock and swallowed
her contempt. She was then alarmed by how short she was compared to
herself. What was she like five-foot four, maybe even five-five?
Her beautiful made-up face was enhanced by a lovely shade of mauve
lipstick. Looking every bit like Grace Kelly, her elegance, her
humility shoved Amber into instant intimidation. Her cobalt eyes
stared into her hazels and sent shivers up her spine, as if she was
the favored cat who had just swallowed the canary.

Stacey lifted up her jaw and raised an eyebrow at her
fiancée. Eduardo stood grave. Stacey couldn’t believe the nerve of
this girl. Showing up unannounced, dressed in street garb, faded
jeans, athletic shoes, sweat jacket, looking every bit the
schoolboy. “Where is your fiancée?” She asked on point.

“He’s at home,” Amber lied, noticing Eduardo’s look
of surprise in the corner of her eye.

“So you’re still with him?” He asked point blank.

Amber turned to look at him; her heart ached to tell
him the truth. Oh, she knew she should have, it was a tall tale she
was about to unfold, but she was left with no other choice by that
she-devil who suddenly terrified the hell out of her. Shades of
high school resurfaced almost immediately; the popular cheerleader
demoralizing the nerd. “Of course, I’m getting married in a couple
of weeks.”

Eduardo’s incredulous look was icing on the cake.
Amber won the gamble. Now if only she could walk away from the
table with all the chips!

Stacey’s heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. Her
fiancée had a devastating look upon his stupefied face. Amber too,
looked disheveled and uncertain. Stacey broke through their obvious
chemistry boiling, and said, “How nice for you, we’re getting
married this Sunday, aren’t we sweetheart?” She then stepped in
toward Eduardo and draped both arms around his waist. Eduardo
fundamentally wrapped his arm around her shoulder, but continued to
stare at his ex-wife.

“Can we continue our conversation?” Amber asked her
ex-husband noticing Stacey’s unbelieving expression.

Stacey’s mouth dropped open wide and gazed up at
Eduardo wondering if he’d even contemplate on departing. Apparently
he did, because Eduardo let go of Stacey contiguously and began to
walk toward Amber. Again, Eduardo grazed the small of Amber’s back
with his hand.

“Eduardo?”

He gazed back at Stacey, “What?”

“I cannot believe you’re leaving me here,” Stacey
whined, her hands on her hips.

“I’ll be right back; I need a moment with my
ex-wife,” he explained, guiding Amber away by pushing her posterior
when Stacey ran up to him and pulled at his jacket.

“Whatever she has to say, she can say it in front of
me,” Stacey demanded earnestly. “We have no secrets you and I,
we’ve always been up front with one another and I would appreciate
it if you’d be man enough to not go off with your ex-wife and
discuss God-knows-what.”

Amber swallowed hard. She didn’t want to profess her
love in front of Stacey anyway, what if Eduardo no longer felt the
same? She would feel humiliated. “She’s right.”

“She is?” Eduardo asked incredulous.

Amber gritted her teeth, “Yes, I wouldn’t like it
either if my fiancée went tracing off with another woman!”

“This is absurd!” Eduardo suddenly professed, rolling
his eyes. “Why do I suddenly feel like the rope between a tug of
war?”

Amber’s blood began to boil. Eduardo always knew how
to anger her. “You conceited bastard! You’re probably all puffed up
please about this, aren’t you? Well, I just wanted to know how you
felt about marrying her, that’s all, and now—I don’t know
why
—but I suddenly don’t gave a shit.”

“I know it must be terribly hard to lose a child,”
Stacey quickly chimed in, trying to become the voice of reason,
“But you two no longer need to be friends,” she paused to shoot
looks at both of them, “Whenever you’re around one another,
resentment always seems to surface. The farther you stay away from
each other—the better for all involved.”

Amber and Eduardo both shot looks her way.

“She’s right,” Eduardo let go, digging his hands down
his pant pockets.

“She is?” Amber said, gritting her teeth again. “Well
that’s just swell,” she exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air.
Amber turned the other way and headed toward her car only a few
feet away. She did not expect her ex-husband to follow her, but he
did,
damn him
.

“I’m not done.”

“I am,” Amber rapidly cut him off.

“You came here for a reason Amber, and for the life
of me—I don’t know
why
—but I’m so God darn curious, you’re
distracting me with what it is.”

Amber’s throat closed up. The fury in his eyes, the
anger in his voice, his body posture, his erratic breathing, all
pointed toward one thing—passion about to explode. Amber was the
one. Amber was the only one responsible for such emotion. Was this
a good thing? It was always a start.

Amber’s eyes glided over to Stacey who suddenly
approached from behind Eduardo.

“Excuse me, but I’m still here,” Stacey forged
in.

“And so you are,” Amber sadly voiced, “We… him and I,
have a turbulent history,” she laughed at the realization, “And if
you don’t mind Stacey...I need to find some closure.”

“Did you know that Eduardo and I were once high
school sweethearts? So, like you, we have some history too.”

Amber just looked at her and then closed her eyes.
She felt as if she’d just been kicked in the gut.

High school
fricken’
sweethearts?!

Good Lord, Eduardo
did
lie to her about being
attracted to Stacey from the very beginning! All her paranoia had
been justified after all? She knew Eduardo upside down—right side
up knowing full well he was always lying to her and his continued
temptation; fibbed about being involved with her when he knew damn
well he’d kissed her before, probably even had sex with her often,
oh hell
, she was truly aggravated now! Her eyes penetrated
his shocked look.

“So the mania was merited after all?” Amber asked
trying to justify her obsession. She stood aside from Eduardo and
leaned over to take a peek at his high school sweetheart. “Have a
happy life with Prince Charming,” Amber quickly pointed out, “Make
sure he never lies to
you.
”

Eduardo at once hovered over Amber and stood directly
in front of her, blocking her view from his fiancé. He looked down
into her eyes and pierced through the outer layers of her rage.
Amber was livid, and when she was bruised, she would make very
stupid,
impulsive
decisions. “Stop it,” he said shaking her
shoulders again, “Look at me.” He then took down a deep swallow and
waited until his ex-wife bore into his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he told
her delicately. He wanted to clarify the truth, but didn’t want to
injure her with it – his heart pounded a mile a minute. “Allow me
to explain,” he whispered to her so that Stacey could not hear what
he was saying. “Meet me tomorrow morning.”

“Where,” Amber whispered back, continuing to stare
into his darkened stimulated eyes.

“You know where.”

At two o’clock in the afternoon, the ambulance shut
its siren off upon entering the horrific scene. Grabbing their
medical duffel bags first, the two paramedics, or EMT’s (Emergency
Medical Technician) exited their vehicle to find a chaotic mess of
steam and mangled steel. Assessing the accident first, there were
two automobiles: One skidded into an electric pole while the other
shoved into a brick wall – two drivers…one dead on impact, the
other hanging on to dear life.

“Looks like a head injury,” the medic claimed,
holding Amber’s neck still so that they could put her head in a
brace. Her scalp was also bleeding from a gash on her forehead. The
medic quickly responded to her plight and placed a bandage around
her forehead.

“Let’s place her in the back,” the other medic
stated, strapping Amber’s unresponsive body on the stretcher so
that she could be transported via ambulance to a nearby
hospital.