Page 76 of Crush

Fourteen

Max

I felt like a sack of shit as she stared up at me with a tortured expression.

I toyed with lying, saying I’d overheard some shit or something like that at her father’s party. Either that or throwing Mia under the bus, but the truth prevailed.

The way she stood before me, looking so small and fragile suddenly made me want to pull her into my arms. Amber made me feel soft in a way that I wasn’t.

“Was it my father or Mia?” Amber prompted with a jut of her chin. She jerked back when I went to touch her again and uncrossed her arms. At that point, I recognised that her father and Mia must have been the only people who knew.

Amber’s wide eyes sank into me and I dropped my hands to my sides, exhaling slowly. “Your father told me.” Although my voice was low, she heard my confession through the ballad playing in the ballroom.

Amber’s breath hissed through her clenched teeth as she looked up toward the ceiling, exposing her slender throat.

I wanted to hold her but knew she needed a moment to digest my words.

After a couple of beats, she faced me again with flashing eyes. “He had no right,” Amber whisper-snarled. Temper shook her small frame. I had never seen her so angry.

My spine stiffened as annoyance bled into me and I stepped into her personal space, “You’re his daughter, he had everyfuckingright. He worries about you.” The volume of my voice increased as rage flooded between us; like the banks of a river had burst.

Shaking her head Amber glanced behind me as her hands curled into fists. “So, Daddy told you what happened to me and I became your pity party?” she huffedalmost to herself. “Is that why we’re here?” Amber motioned the room around us with one hand.

“Partly. But it isn’t about pity Amber, youneedprotection. You’re surely not dumb enough to think that there isn’t a chance that Harker will try and contact you.”

Her nose scrunched, joining the freckles there, “He’s in prison so there is little chance of that.”

As Amber lifted her dress and went to move past me, I stopped her escape with a hand on the wall by her head, blocking her in. Her eyes widened at the gesture and she smoothed her fingers down the satin of her dress. Even though she was riled the woman still carried herself with dignity.

“He’s not,” I explained.

She wasn’t listening, “I can’t believe my father sold me out. I almost feel violated.”

I felt like pointing out that that was exactly what that prick Harker had done to her but I kept my mouth shut. I knew timing was important during these types of moments.

“Yes, your father confided in me but you need to get some perspective. Didn’t you hear what I said, Alexander Harker isn’t in prison. He’s out.”

Her brow scrunched further in confusion as panic set in, “What do you mean? Daddy said he got six years?”

Amber wrapped her arms around her body, looking vulnerable and confused.

I waved away a waiter who approached our location with a tray of champagne flutes. It was a rude gesture but I had bigger problems. What if Amber became hysterical? I knew I shouldn’t have told her in such a public place, even if we were out of the way of the other guests.

“He did but he’s been paroled early,” I explained, softening my tone on purpose. Amber leaned back into the wall and I removed my hand from beside her head.

I honed in on her face which was full of expression feeling like the biggest dick on the planet. She continued to hug herself, it was a defensive move I had seen her do before.

After a beat her hands dropped by her sides again, her knuckles white.

“No. You’re lying,” she snapped, chewing on her bottom lip.

I ground my teeth. “Do I look like I’m taking the piss? Believe me when I say Alexander Harker is a free man.”

Amber blew out a breath as she asked, “When?” Her voice was a whisper and I realised she had lost some of her steam but it didn’t last long.

“As of today.”

Her bright green eyes widened and I could see myself in their reflection. “Today?” Her tone of voice was full of anguish and I felt another bolt of regret dart into me. I had been the one to cause that, in a roundabout way and it made me feel like shit.

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